Fluctuating Philosophy
by Bereft of Relevance
Summary: As Calem's philosophy on life and Pokemon battling changes, he learned how to differentiate brutality from strength,stupidity from perserverance and arrogance from confidence. As unbelievable as it may sound, Calem is also buying a bit into the idea of uniting with allies to overcome a seemingly impossible task. Reviews, criticisms and suggestions are always welcomed.
1. Vs Froakie

Pokémon trainers leave their home at the age of ten to embark on a journey around their regions. Their goals for leaving their home include but are not limited to the following: completing the Pokedex, collecting gym badges, and lastly working to become a Pokémon master or a Pokémon coordinator. And unfortunately, this is also the case for the 10 year old Calem. You see Calem is not what you call an outdoor person; in fact his childhood dream was to be a mystery novelist. However when his parents expressed immense disapproval of his goal and urge him to be a Pokémon Researcher just like his sister, Calem's resentment toward his parents started to surface. His resentment towards his parents grew when his parents constantly compared his "failures" with his sister's success. Though a breaking point was reached, when he realized the extent of moral depravity his parents possesses when they refused to take their Skitty to the doctor, when the Pokemon starts to show signs of abnormal activity. Calem still remembered the day as clear as day, as he had to literally get on his knees to beg for his parents to take the Kitten Pokémon to a professionally trained doctor. At that time his dad would angrily remarked that Calem does not understand anything about survival in the world, and that if he thinks he is so good why doesn't he get a job himself. He also remembered the verbal thrashing he received from his father when it turns out their Kitten Pokémon's sickness is not that serious, the meat of the hour long verbal thrashing was: you wasted my money, moneys we could have used during times of emergency. Those were the times that Calem would roll his eyes, as Calem is well aware of his family's economic difficulty, but he still don't believe that being poor is an excuse to neglect the health of a Pokémon. Definitely, not a Pokémon that has been in the family for as long as Calem can remember.

Speaking of his father, Calem knows his dad has to be one of the most corrupt human being on Earth, as his father often undervalues lives just to keep his pocket full. In fact, he remembered that his father did not even send them any alimony when they were on a different continent, and his mother literally have to borrow money from loan sharks with no guarantee of being able to pay them back. As if Calem's father's greed was not troublesome enough, Calem's father also tends to resolve to violent threats if you disagree with his opinion. After all, his father did announce his desire to kill the raven-haired boy when the boy disagreed with his opinion about what kind of food to feed to Skitty. Although Calem could be really oblivious at times, he can definitely sense the tension in the household, and he knows that he needs to get out of the house for the sake of his own well-being. After all, as an aspiring mystery writer, Calem would like his death to be mysterious, and dying in his own house at his father's hand is not what Calem would like his death to be.

In Calem's eyes, there is no better excuse to leave the house than to help Professor Sycamore restore the lost data in his Pokemon data base. When Calem first revealed his intention on his 10th birthday, it was not surprising that his parents disapproved it. Calem does not know why his parents changed their mind, but he supposed they realized that he is a stallion that needs to run wild. Haha…Calem wondered who he was trying to fool, as it is obvious that the real reason why his parents allowed him to take on the quest of completing the Pokedex was because they realized that their son have a very high chance of death when he face the outside world. Well, with the little amount of living expense that his "altruistic" parents gave him, Calem could very well be able to fulfill his parent's expectation and return in a body bag.

Walking through the bricked pavement of Aquacorde Town , Calem readjusted his necktie and smoothed out his suit as he approached the teenage bunches sitting in the patio on the northern part of Aquacorde Town. Although the above narration might imply that aside from being able to rid himself of his parent's presence, Calem have nothing else to gain from becoming a Pokémon trainer. Though that theory is far from the truth, as Calem have another reason that fueled his desire to become a Pokémon trainer, and that reason shall be disclosed soon. Spotting a mop of unruly blonde hair, Calem's face immediately lit up, but he replaced the smile growing on his face with a scowl the moment he realized that his smile is visible to everyone else sitting around the table. After all he have to maintain his outward character around the teenage bunches, and his outward character happens to be a suit wearing honest man that have a nonchalant attitude towards life. From Calem's reaction upon seeing the blonde, it should be fairly apparent that the other reason why Calem decide to become a Pokémon trainer was because he would be able to see the blonde more frequently, knowing that the blonde has chosen the exact profession. Being able to wake up in the morning without being given the cold shoulders from both of his parents and being able to see his childhood crush frequently, no matter how you looked at it, this situation can only benefit Calem. Calem inwardly grinned as he saw what the rest of the novice trainers are wearing. As he knows that compared to his fancy suit their clothing could very well led them to be classified as bums.

"Bonus points for me." Calem mentally cheered, as he is sure that he impressed in Serena's eyes.

Calem promptly strutted his way to the patio table, standing tall and keeping his shoulder out in an attempt to show his masculinity. Calem closed the distance between him and his fellow rookies, towering over each and every one of them. The black haired teen scanned the rookies with a belittling look on his face, sparing no one not even Serena. His actions were met with scowls and frowns, but he didn't care at all, since all suave guys needs to scowl and act haughty.

"More bonus points for me." Calem noted, quite happy that he managed to make the impression he intended to make. All girls like bad boys, and Calem knows he is emulating the "bad boy" persona to perfection. Noticing an empty seat next to Serena, Calem casually pulled the chair out and flashed Serena his "million dollar smile". At least, he hopes that his smile is worth a million dollars, or else he got tooth whitening for nothing. The raven-haired novice believes he have mastered the art of smiling, as in he knows ways to smile that would trigger different response from people around him. The smile the raven-haired teen just flashed Serena was what he called a "fake smile", as name implies that it is a smile that hides its user's disgust toward the smile's target. However Calem made sure he did not mask the disgust to well, after all he needs Serena to believe that he is out of her league. As Calem plop his butt on the wooden chair, he made sure that he leaned away from the blonde, effectively conveys the negative message of "I don't like you." Serena seems to have noticed his subtle body language, as a scowl is apparent on her face. Now, Calem knows he have Serena exactly where he wants her. Since all girls like guys that play hard to get, Calem knows that Serena must be really in to him right now. The black-haired Pokémon trainer doesn't mind the fact that his long-term crush is currently upset with him, because he have to admit that he find the blonde adorable even if her face reflects nothing but pure animosity.

Moments later an orange haired teen approached them seemingly have something they would like to inform them of, Calem decided to maintain his usual placid demeanor and being a cool guy that he is, he decides to look as uninterested and indifferent to what the tangerine haired teen have to say. As if to emphasize his indifference the raven-haired trainer would occasionally inspect his nails and fidget with his necktie.

"If we can hear paint dry, this is what the orange haired freak's lecture sounds like." Calem jested to himself.

His actions would later come and bite him in the butt, as when the tangerine haired boy revealed a fancy contraption to pass out to everyone, he purposely made sure he was the last one to receive it. Calem of course is angered that he literally sat there with his hand outstretched for a whole minute, looking like an idiot in the process. Calem himself made sure he hid his growing anger; the raven-haired teen repeatedly told himself that he is a refined gentleman, and a refined gentleman doesn't bother with a poorly dressed bum. But no matter how much Calem's "gentleman" persona wants him to let the entire thing slip, Calem can't help but want to achieve even the smallest portion of vengeance.

"I will secretively kick him in the leg when he sits down again. Then he will yelp in pain, wondering who just bruised his leg. I will of course act like I didn't do anything bad, while everyone else being innocent will think he is crazy." Calem schemed to himself, although he has to suppress a couple chuckle at how clever he is acting today. He was snapped out of his nasty plots when he felt a soft tap on his shoulder, knowing that whoever that touched him was his childhood crush, Calem whirled his head around while trying to look like he is not giving her his undivided attention. Serena however did not unleash her melodious, enchanting voice, but instead opt to direct his attention towards a fat chubby boy by pointing towards the fat chubby boy's direction. The chubby kid cleared his throat, as an indication that he is about to speak. Normally, Calem would tell the kid to "shut the hell up, and go run a lap", but the object the kid have in his hands prevents him from doing so. The kid was gripping a gray briefcase tightly by the handle, as if his life would be threatened if he loose whatever is inside. From that Calem can deduce whatever is inside must be really important, especially to trainers. As far as Calem is concerned, the most important things to trainers will have to be Pokemon… or in this case Starter Pokemons.

"Um…I have come to fulfill my obligation of delivering the starter Pokémon that Professor Sycamore has mailed from Lumious City" the chubby kid muttered at a barely audible volume. At this Calem is grateful for possessing such a nimble mind, since his dream of leaving Vaniville Town would have been left in shambles if he pissed off the deliveryman for the Starter Pokemons. Knowing this is his chance to make an impression; Calem stood up from his seat, then proceeded to move towards the timid kid before putting a hand on the kid's shoulder.

"Listen here kid. You have got to speak up, we can't hear you." Calem sighed, rapidly patting the kid on his shoulders while sporting an exasperated look on his face.

"I-I-I am sorry sir! It is just that…" the kid began again, but was cut off again due to his barely audible voice.

"Kid, in order to survive in life, you have got to learn to speak up, or else you won't get anywhere, and won't be able to achieve your dream," Calem interrupted, "Say why don't we start working on your courage right now?"

The boy that came to deliver the Pokémon nodded, albeit timidly.

"Good, first why don't you try and look me in the eye and introduce yourself. For example, what is your name and what is your dream." Calem proposed, the raven-haired boy knows that his sincerity must look really genuine as the chubby kid answered immediately with no sign of hesitance.

"My name is Tierno. I am eleven years old this year, and my goal in life is to create a dance team with my Pokémon… After all it was my childhood dream to be able to dance with Pokémons." Tierno revealed, scratching the back of his head a bit nervously upon revealing his dream of being a dancer. At first Calem remained still, but then he immediately decided his next course of action. Stifled laughter could be heard as Calem 's entire body is trembling. No, he is not having a seizure, he is laughing. According to his knowledge, girls love handsome guys that have a good sense of humor, and now he is demonstrating his ability to detect a good jest.

"Hahaha…Good one buddy. A wonderful jest indeed…" Calem managed to choke out between laughs, placing his hand on Tierno's shoulder for support. Unbeknownst to Calem, Tierno is serious in being a professional dancer with his Pokémon. But that fact immediately revealed itself as Calem witnessed tears free flowing down Tierno's cheeks. Knowing that he said something offensive; Calem quickly removed his hand from Tierno's shoulder frantically searchied his brain for his next course of action.

"To comfort him, or leave him be?" Calem's mind shuffled between these two options before he decided to take the course of action all cool guys would do-: he left the buff child in a puddle of his own tears. Although Calem's decision was faced with scowls and frowns from his peers, Calem ignored them, because he knows you can't please everyone.

As much as Tierno wants to continue wallow in self-pity and continue to bawl his eyes out, he knows that he have a reason to approach this group. Yes, he have a mission he needs to fulfill- to give this years beginner trainer their starter Pokémon. Tierno hastily wiped his tears off using his forearm and proceed to set the briefcase containing the starter Pokémon on the table.

"P-please pick the Pokémon you guys would like!" Tierno exclaimed, still covering his face with his palms to hide the snots covering his face right now. At the sight of Tierno's sobbing, Serena sent Calem a dirty look that could easily been passed off as murderous.

"Then I will choose first," a pony tailed brunette chirped, breaking the uncomfortable atmosphere brought about by Calem's profane remarks. The brunette took the initiative and opened up the briefcase containing the three starter Pokémons and proceed to unleash all three of them from their capsule-like confines. Three separate beams of red energy hit the ground simultaneously, as three animal-like beings materialized at the exact location the energy beams had struck. Calem took the time to check out the outward appearance of three Pokémons. From left to right, the Pokémons are Chespin, Froakie, and Fennekin. Chespin is a bipedal Pokémon that bore some semblance to a hedgehog, with the exception being Chespin have an adornment on his head that resembles the shoot of a chestnut instead of the usual quills. Froakie is a quadruped, frog Pokémon, covered mostly in blue skin with the only exception being its front paw which is white. A notable feature of Froakie is the white bubbles that protrude from its back and the two bubbles on its nose. Calem's attention than diverted to Fennekin, and from the moment they made eye contact, Calem knows that Fennekin is the Pokémon that all suave Pokémon trainers would pick. Fennekin bore a strong semblance to a Fennec fox, Calem can tell that this Fennekin is a creature of immeasurable beauty and pride, from the way it presents itself and to the gold furs that simmer under the rays of the sun…This Pokémon can almost be considered as a clone of Calem, with the only exception being one is a Pokémon and another isn't. In Calem's mind, only a refined gentleman like him can claim ownership of such an elegant Pokémon. And from the spark that lit up in Fennekin's eyes when it saw him, Calem can safely assume that Fennekin thought the same as well.

As the ponytailed brunette walked around each of the starter Pokémon, examining each of their pros and cons, Fennekin made sure to hiss and show her teeth whenever the ponytailed trainer come near her proximity to demonstrate hostility. The ponytailed brunnete seems to be successfully intimidated and proceed to pick up Chespin as her starter Pokémon, much to the latter's delight. The brunette than warily made her way back to the patio table, keeping her eyes on Fennekin the whole time in fears of losing a limb before her journey even starts. Calem let out a sigh of relieve upon realizing that Fennekin is still up for grabs, Calem hesitantly allowed Serena to pick before him. After all, he have to keep up his gentleman like attitude and not to mention he consider this as an atonement to his nasty attitude earlier on towards Tierno. Much to Calem's relieve, Serena seems to also detect Fennekin's hostility and picked Froakie as her starter instead. Finally taking his turn, Calem got down to one knee, holding up a banquet of rose for Fennekin. Overjoyed by Calem's show of affection, Fennekin leapt into Calem's arm, making it official that they are officially partners in this journey to become Pokemon champion.

Moving on to the next event on their seemingly endless agenda for the day, the tangerine haired guy who introduced himself as Trevor took them to a patch of tall grass, informing them that wild Pokémons could be encountered here. Trevor than proceed to engage one of the wild Pokémon's in combat, revealing in the process that his starter Pokémon was also Froakie, a fact that made Calem a bit jealous. After all, having the same Pokémon is comparable to having matching bracelets, and the possibility of Serena purposely choosing Froakie just to have something in common with Trevor irks the raven-haired boy to no end.

In an attempt to demonstrate his eagerness and his dedication, Calem pulled out the Kalos Pokedex in order to gather the wild Pokémon they just encountered as a unit's data. Calem took out his card-shaped Pokedex, and subsequently separate the two ends of the Pokedex, revealing a holographic center. Calem than proceed to aim the Pokedex's scanner to the bunny-like Pokémon that they just encountered and waited for data to present itself.

"_Bunnelby. The Digging Pokémon._

_Bunnelby use their large ears to dig burrows. they will dig the whole night through. Digging holes can strength its ears to the point that they can sever thick roots effortlessly." _the Pokedex beeped.

Calem was half-expecting Serena to be looking over his shoulders, staring at the same information screen with him and compliment him on his studious attitude. However none of those things happened , as Serena just casually pulled out her own Pokedex and looked the information up by herself. Calem doesn't blame her at all though, since there purpose was to complete the Pokedex individually and it is not surprising that girls would be shy approaching a guy as suave as him.

Calem than swiftly moved his Pokedex toward Froakie, as the Pokedex scanned for any information it had on the frog Pokémon.

"_Froakie. The Bubble Frog Pokémon. _

_Froakie secretes flexible bubbles from its chest and back. The bubbles often reduce the damage it would otherwise taken when attacked. Beneath Froakie's happy-go-lucky demeanor, it keeps a watchful eye on its surroundings."_

Bunnelby and Froakie are now in a stand-still, with both Pokémon not twitching a muscle. Froakie is waiting for its trusted trainer's command while Bunnelby is trying to make sense of what is happening right now.

"Froakie, use Bubble." Trevor commanded. The blue-skinned frog nodded upon hearing its trainer's command as an indication of understanding and obedience. The frog-Pokémon inhale deeply before releasing a plethora of clear bubbles at his opponent. Detecting Froakie's intention, Bunnelby demonstrated its incredible leaping prowess and hopped over its assailant, avoiding the incoming bubbles at the same time. Before Froakie can even turn its head around, Bunnelby charged at Froakie in what is deemed to be an incredible feat of speed by the spectators and proceed to repeatedly smack Froakie with its large ears.

"Smokescreen." The lack of emotion in the tangerine haired teen surprised all of the beginners. Although Calem did his best to mask his disbelief, he still can't help but be in awe of how Trevor seems to be able to keep his cool even though his precious comrade is getting his face bashed in, it is almost as if…as if Trevor doesn't care about his Pokémon at all. Calem quickly erased that thought from his head, as he held a dogmatic belief that even the vessels of the darkest of human hearts should at least house some amount of empathy for their close comrades. Registering its owner's command, Froakie back flipped out of Bunnelby's ear's reach, drawing enough distance between the two before breathing a thick black smoke from its nostril. The black smoke immediately enveloped the battlefield, obscuring even the spectator's view. Robbed of most of its perception, Bunnelby could only stand there and wait for his opponent to deal the final blow. Luckily, Bunnelby did not have to wait for long, as a plethora of bubbles smacked it right on it's back, propelling Bunnelby's body forward, effectively landing the Digging Pokémon on its face. Seeing no further signs of resistance, Trevor produced a red and white spherical object from the pouches of his pocket. Trevor proceeds to press the white button in the center, enlarging the sphere to the point that it can match in size with a baseball. In one swift motion, Trevor chucked the capsule device at the fallen Bunnelby. The moment the capsule like device hit Bunnelby, the device opened converting Bunnelby into a form of energy and subsequently pulled the energy form of the Pokémon into the sphere's center, finally the capsule device closed again as it drops to the ground. Whilst the spherical device is on the ground, the device twitched repeatedly and the white button in the middle emits a rapidly blinking crimson light. Fast forwards a few seconds, the blinking light emitted from the central button of the spherical contraption no longer blinked and the contraption has stopped vibrating all together.

Trevor than recalled his Froakie back into the spherical contraption that was almost identical to the one that Trevor just threw out. Trevor than promptly made his way to the fancy spherical contraption that's laying still in the midst of the grassfield, dusting off the spherical contraption Trevor made his way to the rookies.

"So as you can see that is how you capture a wild Pokémon. You weaken it in battle first, then you threw this contraption, aka the Pokeball at it. If the wild Pokémon has suffered enough damage, you should be able to capture it with relative ease." Trevor explained, holding up the red and white spherical contraption that's just been revealed as a Pokeball.

"Oi. Oi. Who do you think we are, huh? Are you making fun of our intelligence? Of course we know what a Pokeball is and how to catch a Pokemon. Do you think we are kindergartners " Calem complained. Trevor did not reply but instead produced three boxes with transparent lid, inside the box contains 5 miniaturized Pokeballs.

"This shall get you started on your journey." Trevor stated, handing both Serena and the brunette their share of the Pokeballs. Just as Trevor approached Calem, Calem did something unthinkably rude. Calem knocked over the box in one swift motion causing the Pokeballs inside of the box to scatter all over the grass-field.

"Who do you think you are, ignoring me like that? Do you think that just because you begun your journey a year ahead of us, you are superior to us? If you want a fight, I will be willing to give you a fight!" Calem shouted, angered at Trevor's nonchalance.

"Calem…drop it. I am sure Trevor doesn't mean it that way." Serena soothed. Upon hearing Serena say his name, Calem felt a little bit better, however when he heard Serena tries to defend Trevor, his hatred immediately surfaced again.

"You butt out of this Serena." Calem barked, although Calem knows that this is not a gentleman like thing to say, Calem can't help but feel like he looked really cool in Serena's eyes right now.

"Well, Excuse meeee! I was just trying to…" Serena began but she was cut off by the sound of Trevor's voice.

"That bastard is right Serena. You need to butt out of this." Trevor instructed, and upon hearing Trevor's voice Serena stopped herself from making any other form of comments.. Trevor than redirected his attention to Calem.

"Say, you have been talking like a hotshot since I have arrived. What do you say to a singles-battle to see how skilled you really are?"

Calem have to admit he wasn't expecting this kind of progression when he initially made the outburst. He was more or less expecting Trevor to act like a coward and back down from him, and he definitely wasn't expecting Trevor to be eager to battle him. Calem knows that he didn't hide his nervousness too well, as he can literally feel his body turn burning hot as bullets of sweat flow down from the hemline of his hair.

"I—I would love to have a Pokémon battle. But you see, I obviously have a type disadvantage right now, with my starter being a fire type and your's being a water type. Any way you look at it , it is not going to be a fair fight for me." Calem babbled, attempting to talk his way out of this battle while looking somewhat decent as well. Trevor just smirked at that, knowing what the raven-haired teen is trying to do. Upon seeing Trevor's smirk, Calem felt a shiver down his spine, as an ominous feeling starts to develop within him.

"I am well aware of the type advantage," Trevor admitted, at this Calem heaved a sigh of relieve assuming the battle is going to be called off. However his securities are quickly shattered as Trevor started throwing derogatory comments at him to try to goad him into a Pokémon battle, meaning that Trevor will not let the raven-haired boy off the hook that easily.

"But you know what else I am aware off? Your cowardice!" Trevor spat. Calem was rendered speechless for the first time in the day, and he could have sworn that he heard Serena snicker with Tierno in the background.

"But since I am a nice guy, I will give you a handicap in exchange for engaging in a Pokémon battle with me. The handicap I will give you is that I will use my Froakie who has already survived a grueling battle, and that I will not use any kind of water-type maneuvers on your Fennekin. Or will you still not accept the challenge. If you decline the challenge, I must admit I overestimated you and your courage." Trevor goaded. At this Calem felt his body ran cold, no one and he means NO ONE questions his dignity, especially not in front of Serena.

"So which one is it going to be?" Trevor asked a smug look apparent on his face.

"Yeah, Calem which one is it going to be?" Tierno chorused.

Calem let his action speak for itself as he reached for Fennekin's Pokeball that is attached to the Pokeball holster on his belt. Taking this as a sign of agreement to battle, Trevor released his blue-skinned frog Pokémon.

In response, Calem released Fennekin from her Pokeball. Upon being released Fennekin immediately rub herself against Calem's leg as a sign of affection, while Serena and Brunette wonders why the fox Pokémon doesn't display that kind of affection towards them. Calem notified the Fox Pokémon of Froakie's presence, by jerking his thumb toward Froakie's direction. Fennekin scanned Froakie's physical condition, before sitting down and proceed to scratch itself in the ears through the usage of her hind legs, effectively conveying the message that she never took Froakie as a serious threat.

Trevor and his Froakie showed no signs of being angered, both maintaining a placid demeanor to Fennekin's taunting.

"Froakie use pound." Trevor instructed, the frog Pokémon closed the distance between itself and Fennekin in one great leap, before raising its forepaw readying it to smash into his adversity.

"Fennekin, avoid it and roast the frog with a point-blank ember." Fennekin side-stepped Froakie with ease, and proceed to unleash a blanket of explosive sparks at the Frog Pokemon.T he frog Pokémon stumbled backward upon experiencing the full blunt of its fire-type adversity's Ember. The frog Pokémon has to admit to himself that despite his resistance towards fire-type attacks, it is not exactly enjoyable to take a ember at point-blank range. Shrugging off the blow, the water-type Pokémon awaits its trainer's next set of instructions.

"Fennekin, strike Froakie in the stomach with Flame Charge now!" Calem urged, seeing as Trevor has yet to give any command. Obeying her trainer's orders, Fennekin rapidly stomps the ground with her foot causing a large of cloud of dirt and dust to pick up, obscuring Fennekin's body from view. Fennekin's body than become surrounded in an orb of orange flames as the Fox Pokémon launch herself towards Froakie. Calem knows that he have Trevor exactly where he wants him know, for he knows Flame Charge will raise the users speed each time it is utilized. So even if Froakie manage to evade the first Flame Charge, he won't be able to evade the next.

"Regretting that you gave me that handicap now? " Calem taunted, thinking that he have everything under control. Trevor however just maintained stolid, and gave Froakie its next set of instructions.

"Froakie! Round!" Froakie nodded at his owner's command and proceed to release a high-pitched note from its mouth. Fennekin unable to bear the sound anymore nullified her own Flame Charge in favor of covering her ears, trying to block the sound waves out of her ears. Fennekin is not the only one that seems to favor her ear drum over everything else, as Calem and all the spectators covered their ears in agony as they come to the realization that the cloaking of frogs is even worse than death itself. Taking advantage of Fennekin's temporary vulnerability, Trevor ordered Froakie to finish things off with a Quick Attack. A white outline surrounds Froakie's body, as the Bubble Frog Pokémon proceeds to charge at Fennekin at an insane speed, leaving a silver trail behind him. Despite Calem's frantic pleas, a disoriented Fennekin was struck all too easily by a lightning-fast Froakie. The Fox Pokemon let out a yelp of pain before feeling her feet leave the seismic ground courtesy of the power behind Froakie's Quick Attack.

"Fennekin, what are you doing?! Blast the damned frog with flame-!" Calem was quickly cut off as Fennekin's body flew into his face. The resulting impact of caused Calem to jams his teeth down on his exposed tongue, sputtering blood everywhere. Ignoring the blood that now surrounds Calem's mouth, Serena ran over to the battlefield checking on the status of both Pokémon. Serena noticed that Calem's Fennekin is currently lying on top of her supine trainer without any sign of consciousness, knowing what must be done Serena declared Trevor the winner of this Pokémon battle.

"Fennekin is unable to battle; the winner of this bout is Froakie. And as a result of the winner of this one-on-one battle is Trevor from Vaniville Town." Serena declared. Soon the spectators moved away from the site of the battle, mentally noting how the raven-haired boy talks a big game but can't back it up. A satisfied look graced Trevor's face as he recall Froakie back to its Pokeball, leaving Serena and Calem alone. After a moment of hesitance, Serena picked up her luggage and left the scene, leaving Calem alone with his self-inflicted tongue injury and his barely conscious Pokémon.

It was a separation without words…


	2. Vs Pikachu

"GO AWAY! I don't want to see your ugly face ever again!" A ear-piercing voice resonated through the small town of Aquacorde as a raven-black haired trainer was tossed out of a herb store. To be frank, Calem have no idea what is the deal with the lady that tossed him out, as far as Calem is concerned he didn't even say anything offensive. He just told the herbalist that nursed his Fennekin back to health that she should be honored that he allowed her to participate in the treatment of his Fennekin. And that statement is in no way shape or form a lie, after all his Fennekin is a creature of unrivaled elegance and beauty, a Pokemon that shouldn't even be medically treated in a building that looks like a run-down shack.

"It must be her time of the month," Calem concluded before picking himself off the dusty pavement of Aquacorde Town. Dusting off his suit, Calem moved towards the store that once bragged on television about the quality of their potions. Since Calem knows that he can't always go back to the most recent Pokemon center that he visited just to maintain his Pokemon's physical conditions, as that would be extremely counterproductive. Moments later, Calem exited the store with a bagful of Potions, and a purple imprint of a palm on his cheeks. Yup you guessed it, the store clerk slapped him. Calem used his finger to poke the discolored patch of flesh on his cheeks, and immediately regretted it. Again, Calem have no idea why the store clerk slapped him. All he did was asking why she is so underdeveloped. Sighing Calem walked off the front porch of the Potion Store, concluding that the store clerk is also having her time of the month. Making a mental note to exploit the lack of civility of the citizens in Aquacorde Town, Calem headed toward the Santalune Forest.

Santalune Forest, a sun-dappled forest full of bug Pokemon that can cause a lot of troublesome status conditions. Well aware of the presence of those pestilient bug's presence, Calem reached behind his back and removed Fennekin 's pokemon from his Pokeball holsters. Staring intently at the capsule device, Calem can't help but wonder if Fennekin has completely lost her faith in him as a Pokemon trainer, after all he was the one that lead her to a crushing defeat against an already worn-out Froakie. Even though Calem might not be a complete expert when it comes to Pokemon, he knows that he will be really upset if he got hurt because of someone else's decisions. Praying that Fennekin did not let the early defeat discourage them from becoming a cohesive team, Calem tossed the capsule device into the air. Whilst the Pokeball was in the air, the red lid of the Pokeball flipped open as a bright light flew out of the container. The bright light later struck the ground and moments later a lively Fennekin emerged. Calem was half expecting Fennekin to blow him up with an Ember before deserting him in the forest with those disease-ridden insects. After all according to the documentaries he watched on T.V that is what Pokemon that lost their respect for their trainers do. However much to his relief, Fennekin did not burn his handsome face with an Ember, instead the Fox Pokemon chose to march ahead the forest without even greeting her trainer. To be honest, Calem does not know what is worse, getting ignored by his starter Pokemon or getting his face blown up by an Ember. Defeated, Calem trudged after his Starter Pokemon, aware of the fact that even if Fennekin probably wouldn't help him in his journey anymore, the Fox Pokemon will still immediately jump to the defense of her own well-being. Meaning that if he maintained a close distance, chances are he will be able to make it out of the forest alive. Fennekin seemed to notice her trainer's intentions as she let out an annoyed "hmph" before speeding off deeper in the forest. Taken back, Calem immediately chased after it, however his progress is halted when he stepped on something squishy. The thing that Calem's feet made contact on let out a pained yelp letting Calem know that he just injured it. Curious to what he just stepped on; Calem lowered his gaze to the forest ground and was met with an angry Scatterbug. Calem immediately removed his sole from the Scatterdust Pokemon's body, but the raven-haired boy was showered by a very angry Scatterbug's Stun Spore before he could even mutter an apology. Collapsing to the ground from the effect of being paralyzed, Calem frantically searched his bag for the Salvyeo Weed that he packed before leaving his house, in hopes of curing his own paralysis so he can catch up to his Starter Pokemon. Luckily, Scatterbug left the scene of the crime after getting its share of leveled retribution and did not hinder Calem from getting himself healed up. Normally Calem would be making mental notes about how he is going to capture that Pokemon and demand an apology from it, but Calem knows that a refined trainer like him doesn't bother with pathetically weak Pokemon such as Scatterbug.

Picking himself off the forest ground and removing any grass that's attached to his suit, Calem proceed to sprint off to the direction his Fennekin disappeared into. After all it is the trainer's own responsibility to soothe out any tension between his Pokemon, and Calem is just carrying his duty out like a true Pokemon trainer… at least that's what he had liked you to believe. Navigating further into the forest, Calem had the second biggest scare of his life as a Caterpie is dangling just a few inches away from the tip of Calem's nose. The raven-haired teen's body went on auto-pilot as he ran passed the Caterpie and straight into the yet unexplored realm of Santalune Forest.

Realizing that he has gone far enough from the Caterpie, Calem allowed himself to sit under the shadow of a Palm Tree in order to allow his body to recover from the long distance sprinting it just performed. While resting he admitted to himself that part of the reason why he is so desperate to recover his Starter Pokemon was because he have a fear of insects, which is why this was one of the rare moments that Calem was glad Serena was not next to him.

A rustling of the bushes alerted Calem and causing the aspiring trainer to spring back to his feet, ready to face whatever that's going to come out of the bush. In a short moment, a badly battered yellow rodent-like Pokemon emerged from the bushes. The rodent-like Pokemon made limited advance towards Calem, outstretching its hand while letting out a pained cry as if the Pokemon was begging for his assistance. However the rodent-like Pokemon collapsed to the floor before it could even attempt to hint the raven-haired boy the origin of its distress. Relieved that it is not another Bug-type Pokemon and concerned for the Pikachu's well-being, Calem picked the rodent-like Pokemon up and brought him under the Palm Tree. Calem knows that the herbalist in Aquacorde Town probably won't ever talk to him again, so going over there and ask for her assistance is out of the question, meaning the only course of action that he can take right now is to nurse the Pokemon back to health himself. Producing bottles of Potions from his backpack, Calem carefully sprayed the said medication over the rodent-like Pokemon's body. Upon nursing the rodent-like Pokemon back to a stable condition, the raven-haired boy finally allowed himself to rest. Wiping sweat from his forehead and letting out a sigh of relieve, the boy allowed his curiosity to do him in as he reached for his Pokedex to confirm the creature's identity.

Calem separated the two ends of his card-shaped Pokedex, exposing the holographic center.

"_Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon. Pikachu's are forest dwellers and few in numbers. The pouches in their cheeks discharge electricity at their opponents. Pikachu are believed to be highly intelligent." _the handheld Pokemon Encyclopedia beeped. It would be an understatement to say the aspiring Pokemon trainer was taken aback at the revelation of the Pokemon's identity. You see, a Pikachu is considered a rare sight in the region of Kalos. Never in his dreams did Calem ever think he would be able to see a Pikachu, and never mind holding one. As excited as Calem is at this moment, he knows that something is odd about this entire occurrence. Knowing that burnt patches of grass characterize the habitats of Pikachus, the lack of burnt grass piqued Calem's curiosity about how this Pikachu would have wondered into this portion of the forest.

"He could have been exiled from the population, or attacked by another wild Pokemon." Calem reasoned, after all it would explain why the Pikachu is all battered and bruised. But somewhere deep inside Calem's gut, he knows that his assumptions were wrong. Knowing that the only way to confirm his theories was to reunite the injured Pikachu with the rest of the Pikachu population, the raven-haired boy continues to venture deeper into the forest.

A Fox-like Pokemon cautiously navigated through the forest while attempting to pick up any clue that would lead her back to her trainer, as the Fox Pokemon is hopelessly lost. The Fox Pokemon knew that she made the wrong decision when she opt to throw a fit and ditch her trainer, but she never expect her trainer to give up on attempting to please her that quickly. Fighting back tears brought upon by the thought of spending an eternity in the forest, Fennekin continued her quest to reunite with her trainer. Since the last time she checked, her trainer have this nifty things they call town map, and with a town map it should be nearly impossible to get lost.

Hours passed, and the more Fennekin reflect over her decision, the more guilty and ashamed she felt. Fennekin is well aware of the fact that her trainer is just a beginner and it's the job of the Starter Pokemon to accompany its trainer through the thick and thin, but she let rage overtook the rationality in her brain at that time. However if you looked at things in Fennekin's perspective, you will realized that she had a wounded pride as she lost to a already worn out Froakie, so Fennekin is not completely irrational when directing her rage. Seeing a familiar scratch mark on the bark of a tree, Fennekin let out an groan and collapsed on the forest ground, knowing that she has been walking in circles again. Knowing that she fought a losing battle against hunger and fatigue, Fennekin searched the forest floor, hoping to find some twigs that she can snack on.

Scanning and scrutinizing each individual fallen terminal branch spread out on Santalune Forest floor, Fennekin attempt to find the twig that have the most desirable taste. Color, texture, and patterning of the twig bark are essential steps in picking out a suitable twig, and so far the twigs laying around has been nothing but disappointment. Accepting defeat, Fennekin was about to lower herself into eating one of the lower-quality twigs, until something lying in the center of the forest floor caught her attention. The object that lays in the middle of the forest floor was a twig of the highest quality, from the coloring to the pattern of the bark, the twig is the epitome of perfection. Covering the distance between her and the twig with a giant leap, Fennekin opened her mouth preparing herself to take a good bite into the terminal branch, however her plans was thwarted when a black blur intercepted the branch and took the tree twig away.

"Fenne-Fenne!Fen! Fen! Ne! Kin!" the Fox Pokemon barked in protest. The black blur that snatched Fennekin's precious twig was a quadruped canine Pokemon named Houndour.

"Houn. Houn." The Houndour's cries contain signs of arrogance, as the Dark Pokemon seems to be telling the Fox Pokemon that he found the twig first.

"Fennekin! Fennekin! (No way, I am closer to the ground than you are!)" Fennekin argued, stomping her feet in a fit of anger. Indeed it was true that Fennekin is closer to the ground than the Dark Pokemon, as Fennekin is only .4 meters tall while the Dark Pokemon is .6 meters. In Fennekin's mind, the shorter Pokemon will always be the first one to find something in the ground, because they are closer to the ground, which means she is the one that found the twig first. However the Dark Pokemon seems to not be able to understand that logic, as the Houndour still refused to release the twig from his grasp.

"Fenne!"

"Dou—dour!" The Dark Pokemon began to make his way back to the place where it came from, but Fennekin being a highly prideful Pokemon will not allow that to happen.

"Fenne-" An orb of flame gathered in Fennekin's mouth.

"Kinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" The orb of flame exploded into a blanket of sparks that showered the unsuspecting Houndour, pushing the Houndour back and causing it to yelp in pain. The twig that the Houndour hand clenched in his mouth flew onto the air, before dropping into a location that is equidistant from both Pokemon.

"Houn! Houn!(What's wrong with you?!" the Houndour demanded, fully recovered from the exploding sparks that Fennekin just blasted at him.

In reply, Fennekin just hissed, and positioned herself to pounce at the Dark Pokemon if necessary. Taking this as a challenge, the Houndour repositioned himself as well, also ready to pounce at its adversity

In a moment of synchronicity, both Pokemon dash towards the twig resting in the middle of the forest ground. The Dark Pokemon being the more experienced one, reached the twig faster, before using its weight to its advantage and slammed its front paws on Fennekin, suppressing and immobilizing the smaller Fox Pokemon.

"Houn! Houn!" the Houndour chirped, as it started to munch away on the twig, all the while watching the Fox Pokemon squirm underneath him. However the sudden increase in temperature of the Fox Pokemon took Houndour by surprised, as moments later it found its feet soaked in incinerating flames. Leaping off of Fennekin, Houndour ingnored the pain developing on its forpaw and readied itself for Fennekin's upcoming offense. Fennekin, now surrounded by an orb of flames, charged at the Houndour, leaving a stream of red flames behind her. The experienced Houndour managed to evade the first series of offense by Fennekin, but soon found it to be unable to react in time to the next series of offense. Paralyzed by its opponent's astounding speed, the Houndour can only remain stationary while Fennekin ram her body into it from all directions.

In an attempt to protect itself from further harms, Houndour unclenched the twig in its mouth and fired off a Flamethrower in Fennekin's direction. The Fox Pokemon however evaded the column of fire with ease, thanks to her increased speed. The column of flames made contact with the ground, starting a wild fire in the process. Houndour growled in annoyance, as it attempt to figure out how he Fox Pokemon received her sudden speed boost. The Dark Pokemon knows that Fennekin was repeatedly using a Fire-type maneuver when her speed increased, and the only Fire-type attack Houndour knows that boost its user's speed is: Flame Charge. Cursing himself for not noticing identifying the technique quick enough, the Dark Pokemon can only watch in horror as it was knocked back and the twig was now in Fennekin's possession. The two Pokemon that have no qualms of environmental destruction, pursued each other until, Fennekin bumped into something and was brought to a swift halt.

Massaging the bruise forming on her forehead, Fennekin shot whatever she bumped into a glance. Originally intending to intimidate whoever she made contact with to the point of submission; Fennekin found herself intimidated to the point of submission as she made eye contact with the ice-cold gaze of two adults that now towers over her. The two adults are both dressed in orange formal wears, and are a duo of opposing gender. Fennekin then noticed the army of Pokemon that just surrounded her, seeing that Houndour greeted and joined the other Pokemon in cornering her, Fennekin can accurately deduce that they are Houndour's allies and that she is now in trouble.

Dropping the twig that was clenched between her teeth, Fennekin let out a timid cry and shoved the twig towards Houndour's direction as a peace offering. Seeing that none of the Pokemon even budged, Fennekin decided to make a run for it. She didn't make much progress however, as she found herself struck and knocked out by a Sludge from a Gulpin.

Upon regaining her consciousness, Fennekin found herself locked in a cylindrical contraption, and after hearing a cacophony of "Pika! Pika! Pikachu!" Fennekin knew she is not alone.

"Fenne…Fenne?" Fennekin inquired about the cause of the imprisonment of the other Pikachus, to which they responded with information about the criminal duo that locked them up.

The novice trainer frantically looked around the forest hoping to find other Pikachu, with the injured Pikachu still cradled in his arm. However his efforts are ultimately in vain as he wasn't able spot any of those rodent-like creatures… not even in areas of burnt grass. This phenomenon continues to pique Calem's suspicion .But just when he was about to turn give up the search for the other Pikachus, a sudden discharge of electricity caught the young teen's attention. Taking the electric discharge as a sign that there are nearby Electric-type Pokemon, Calem proceed to rushed to the direction the discharge came from. The beginning trainer is well aware of the possibility that the discharge could be from other Electric-type Pokemon such as Helioptile, but the possibility of that electric discharge being from a wild Pikachu is too great to be ignored.  
In the midst of the aspiring novelist's venture, he heard soft whispers deep in the forest. Just as the boy was about to investigate the source of the whispering, he found himself forcefully flung into a green shrub. Calem opened his mouth ready to give his assailant a piece of his mind but his rambling was cut off prematurely when he came face to face with a Pikachu…the same Pikachu that he rescued a while ago. The Pikachu gestured towards the direction the whisperings were coming from, and immediately Calem caught on to what the Pikachu was trying to say.

The whisperers are both donning an all orange formal wear. However their total lack of sense for fashion was not the thing that Calem is worrying about right now, in fact the thing that caught Calem's attention was the large cylindrical device those goons possess. Narrowing his eyes to get a better perception of what is inside of the translucent device; the raven-haired boy realized that the cylinder serves as a confinement for the Pikachus locked inside.

"That would explain the battered condition of the Pikachu that's right next to me, and the disappearance of all other Pikachus." Calem concluded. Narrowing his eyes once again, the boy saw a sight that made his blood ran cold. Pikachus are not the only organism locked in the cylindrical contraption, in fact there is an organism with an entirely different physique…And that Pokemon is Fennekin …his Fennekin. Calem noticed the Pikachu standing next to him also tensed up when he saw the defeated looks that appeared on each of the Pikachu's faces, and immediately understood what the Pikachu is up to. Placing a hand on the yellow-rodent, Calem shook his head repeatedly telling the Pikachu to calm down. From what the novice trainer can observe the two orange-wearing adults in the forest all come equipped with Pokemons. Those Pokemons are Houndour, Zubat, Gulpin, and Electrike to be exact. It doesn't take a mathematical genius to come to the conclusion that Calem and Pikachu are at a disadvantage when it comes to numbers, not to mention Calem wasn't even sure if this wild Pikachu will even assist him in combat against those tasteless goons.

"Listen, and listen well Pikachu." At the sound of the trainer's voice, the Pikachu's head popped up as it gave the trainer its undivided attention.

"You want to rescue your comrade right?" The Pikachu nodded, affirming the young trainer's question.

"Well, I have got a plan to deal with those to goons over there." At this, the Pikachu can't help but giggle a little at the name the young trainer decide to call the duo of orange-wearing criminals. The Pikachu quickly recomposed itself as the Pokemon and the human huddled together to discuss their game plan.

"First we need to narrow our objective down to rescuing the detained Pokemon. Meaning we need to forget about defeating those goons in direct combat…" the boy begun as Pikachu sat in front of him, taking in every word that came out of the boy's mouth.

In an instant, the yellow-rodent burst out of its hiding place. The sudden appearance of the yellow-rodent startled the duo of criminals, as they prepared themselves to engage the lone survivor of the Pikachu population in combat. However before the duo can even move a finger, the wild Pikachu produced a yellow orb of electricity and subsequently flung the orb at the ground. The collision between the orb of electricity and the forest ground created a blinding flash of light, effectively obscuring the duo of criminals and their Pokemon's vision. Taking advantage of the duo's temporary disability, Calem rammed himself into the cylindrical contraption; the collision effectively tipped the contraption over. Moving on to step two of his plan, Calem pried the lid open and allowed the captured Pokemon's to escape their confine. As Fennekin ran out of the contraption, it sent Calem a look of gratitude and guilt. The gratitude is presumably from Calem coming to her rescue, and the guilt is presumably from her attitude towards him after she lost against Froakie. Taking this as a sign that Fennekin have regained her respect for him, Calem returned Fennekin to her Pokeball before continuing the escapade with the rest of the Pikachus.

"Those goons don't seem to be chasing after us." Calem noted as he sprinted through the forest along with the liberated Pikachu. Seeing that they are near the exit of Santalune Forest, Calem ordered the Pikachu to be on standby as he himself headed for Santalune City to acquire more help. Before leaving, Calem took the first Pikachu that he encountered in the forest with him, saying that the Pikachu's electric discharge shall serve as signal flares for the group. Instructing the rest of the Pikachu to meet up when a discharge has been fired, Calem left for Santalune City. Unbeknownst to the group, a lone Pikachu has snuck away from the group and headed towards an unknown region of the forest.

Calem rushed through the bricked road of Santalune City, although the city is also rather scarcely populated, it does not make finding a police station that much easier. From the information he obtained, Calem can safely deduce the duo's profession is something akin to the profession of poaching. With the possibility that the duo being poachers, It makes the need for policemen and policewomen all the more dire.

A stray yellow rodent-like Pokemon approached the criminal duo that it just escaped from a few minutes ago. The Pikachu warmed up to the two shady figures as the female figure bent over and patted it on the head, telling it how much of a good job it has done. The Pikachu is by no means a wild Pikachu; in fact it was a captured Pikachu that the duo has snuck in the midst of confusion that the raven-haired boy has stirred up himself.

"Now, Pikachu. Lure the others over here." The Pikachu nodded obediently. Taking advantage of the knowledge it obtained while serving as a spy in the Pikachu population, the Pikachu fired off an electric discharge towards the sky.

A jolt of electricity erupted in the midnight skies, temporarily illuminating the forest. A Pikachu assumed the leadership position of the flock and dash towards the origin of the electric discharge at blinding speed to the point that their green surrounding seemed like a blur of colors. The leading Pikachu is well respected among his peers due to his survival of countless battles in the past, and his first-rate combat prowess, and thus no other Pikachus dare to doubt its leadership capabilities. The Pikachus traveled in a formation that bore semblance to a diamond, letting out jolts of electricity to keep each other in line and alert others of surrounding dangers.

In the midst of their ventures, the leading Pikachu noticed a creature of its own kind approaching the group from the opposite direction. Barking for the other Pikachu to get in the formation, the leading Pikachu turned his back on the approaching Pikachu. Turning his back on the approaching Pikachu turned out to be a big mistake, as moments later the veteran Pikachu found himself knocked in the back of the head by an Iron Tail. As if on cue, Houndour and Electrike cut into the formation, snatching up Pikachus along the way. Panicked at the defeat of their leaders, the Pikachu broke out of the diamond-shaped formation and started to act erratically. All the escaped Pikachu was captured in no time at all, with the exception of their leader who was futilely attempt to crawl away from the scene of crime. Letting the Pikachu know that he is at their mercy, one of the orange-donning grunts kicked the Pikachu hard in the stomach, effectively flipping the yellow-rodent onto his back and inducing a yelp of pain from the Pikachu.

Ignoring the growing pain in his stomach, the surviving Pikachu continue to advance away from the duo while trying to figure out what went wrong in their plan. Several theories went through the veteran Pikachu's head, and one of the most prominent ones is that the raven-haired boy and the grunts are in cahoots all along. In the veteran Pikachu's mind, that would explain everything. Another jolt of electricity burst through the darkened skies of Santalune Forest, this time in a complete opposite direction. Befuddled at the appearance of two electric discharges in exact opposite directions, the veteran Pikachu's mind returned to speculation. The veteran Pikachu formulated a hypothetical situation where the raven-haired teen is in cahoots with the orange suit wearing grunts, than he realized that there will be no points of firing a second discharge when their objective was already fulfilled. The above thought lead the veteran Pikachu to consider the possibility of a spy within the flock, as the only people that should know about there communication system should be the Pikachus in the formation and the raven-haired boy. The veteran Pikachu recalled that he was struck with Iron Tail, when that stray Pikachu approached them. The surviving Pikachu's eyes widen at the realization that the stray Pikachu could have been the "mole" of the group. Yellow beams of electricity continue to burst through the darkened skies of Santalune Forest, as If begging to receive a response. Knowing that he does not have much time to think about the consequences that would come with his actions, the Pikachu gathered the last of his energy and fired off his own electric discharge. The veteran Pikachu's electricity did not go unnoticed, as the Pikachu immediately receive a thrashing from the criminal duo and their Pokemon.

Tossing the unconscious Pikachu in the cylindrical contraption, the duo than proceed to hook the said contraption to their hot air ballon. However the sudden arrival of Calem and the policemen stopped the criminal duo from taking off with the Pokemons. Knowing that they are greatly outnumbered, the duo cut the wire that held the cylindrical contraption to the hot air balloon. Using a flash grenade to disorientate the reinforcement's senses, the duo proceeds to flee the field on their hot air balloon.

Just as Calem was about to pursue the duo, Officer Jenny placed her hand the boys shoulder. Officer Jenny than proceed to justify her refusal to let the teen chase after the duo by telling him that they already secured the freedom of the captured Pikachu and continuous pursuit could result in more casualties. Calem agreed with Officer Jenny's judgment, albeit reluctantly. The entire police forces dissolved upon liberating the imprisoned wild Pikachus and proceed to return to the city, leaving Calem alone in the forest to say his final farewell with the Pikachus.

Calem squat down, and gave the first Pikachu that he encountered a pat on the head, before leaving for Santalune City as well. However before he could advance much further, he noticed the first Pikachu he met in the forest is blocking his path.

"Pika! Pika!" The Pikachu made some frantic hand motions, before opting to climb on the young trainers shoulder, as the young trainer have no idea what the rodent-like Pokemon is trying to say.

"Don't tell me you want to come with me?" The Pikachu nodded happily. Upon seeing this, Calem sent the leader of the Pikachus an unsure look, to which the veteran Pikachu returned with a look of approval. Taking out one of his unused Pokeballs and proceed to casually flung it at the Pikachu that is currently blocking his path. After a few vibrations, the Pokeball turned still as it signifies the capture of the Pikachu. Muttering one final goodbye, Calem proceeded to Santalune City, where he shall challenge the gym with his new comrade.


	3. Vs Pansage

Witnessing the death of a loved one can be devastating, but witnessing the death of a loved of at the hand of your most trusted partner is even worse.

"_I will not trust any trainers again, and I swear to eliminate each and every single one of them from the face of this Earth…"_

A Monkey-like figure swung through the sun-dappled Santalune Forest. Anchoring his vine whips at a selected branch, the wild Pokemon reeled itself towards the marked destination by rewinding the vines. This process was repeated over and over again, allowing the wild Pokemon to cover large amount of distance with indescribable elegance and speed, it is almost as if the Pokemon was doing an aerial dance. The unorthodox method of traveling allowed miles after miles of grounds to be covered, but the wild Pansage know that he is far from done. After all, it is being chased by an overweight trainer that does not know when to give up in the quest of capturing him. And the wild Pokemon is not about to let himself be captured just to end this meaningless conflict, as the Wild Pokemon once swore on his life that he would never get captured again. As if on instinct, the wild Pokemon extended his hand to massage the stinging scar marks left behind by its previous owner.

"_Yup, never again…"_

* * *

Camping out in Route3 was not Calem's ideal way to spend yesterday's evening, however fatigue has caught up to him due to all the running around in Santalune Forest. The boy let out a groan as he realized that this just set him back from reaching Santalune City for at least 1/3 of a day, meaning that the distance between him and Serena would be drawn out further. However having already navigated through the route once when he went to acquire help from the policeman and policewoman of Santalune City, Calem managed to avoid the trenches and other obstacles with relative ease. As Calem neared the entrance of Santalune City something halted his progress. No it is not a rare Pokemon, nor is it another criminal syndicate, it however is the sound of battling that caught the young trainer's attention. Commands and noises of impact resonated around the forest, signifying that at least one of the combatants has a human that gives them orders. Allowing his curiosity to lead him off-course, Calem followed the direction the noise of chaos emitted from. After all, if he wants to be a successful Pokemon trainer, he needs to have a good estimate of his competition's abilities. Allowing his foot to bring his body to the scene of the chaos, Calem carefully examined the combatants. On one side of the field there is a monkey-like Pokemon that have what seems to be a broccoli on its head and on the other side there is a crustacean Pokemon that resembles a red lobster. Taking out his Pokedex, Calem scanned both Pokemon's data and allowed the Pokedex to inform him of their information.

"_Pansage. The Grass Monkey Pokemon. _

_It shares the leaf on its head with weary-looking Pokemon. These leaves are known to relieve stress. Pansage is also good at finding berries and gathers them from all over, Pansage's kindness allowed it to share the berries with friends."_ After a quick beep to signify the end of one entry, and another beep signified the beginning of another.

"_Corphish. The Ruffian Pokemon._

_No matter how dirty the water in the river, it will adapt and thrive. A Corphish's pincers will never release its prey."_

Surveying the area with his eyes, Calem looked for the trainer's voice that piqued his attention in the first place. Upon identifying the familiar Vanniluxe T-shirt, Calem had a good idea who the Pokemon trainer, and to be frank he is a bit less eager to stay and watch. The sudden lost of interest was due to the trainer being that overweight kid that he saw in Aquacorde Town, or you can say the overweight kid that he bullied to the point of tears. Calem told himself that it is not because he is scared that the overweight kid would want to inflict vengeance upon him, but because he does not want to see a fat guy command his Pokemon to do all the heavy-lifting when the overweight kid should have been the one exercising, and Calem knows that no trainers should condone their own laziness when they criticize their Pokemon over it. Besides out of the quartet of retards that he spent an afternoon with in Aquacorde Town, Serena is the only one that is worth his attention. In Calem's mind, he wouldn't be able to get much from this battle anyways, as the result is way too predictable. Calem knows that he might have not done much research for his journey, but even he knows that Corphish is a Water-type, Pansage is a Grass-type, and that Water-type does not fare well against Grass-types.

"Who is the noob now?" Calem smirked to himself, and prepared to leave until he heard repeated pained yelping of one of a Pokemon. No, it is not Corphish that's screaming in pain, but instead Pansage is the one screaming its heart out. Redirecting his gaze back to the battlefield, Calem found Corphish repeatedly slamming its pincers onto the Grass Monkey Pokemon, as Pansage is forced into the defensive. Calem himself was shocked by how a Pokemon with a type disadvantage could do this well against as Pokemon with type advantage, the raven-haired boy started to have a little bit of respect for Tierno's ability, although he would never disclose his newfound respect for Tierno to anyone else.

"Corphish, finish Pansage off with a final Crabhammer!" The red-shelled crustacean launched itself at the Grass Monkey, raising both of his pincers as they are surrounded by light. Calem suddenly found himself unable to believe what he is seeing, as not only did Tierno did what Calem wasn't able to accomplish in the form of lasting long in a battle with a Pokemon that have a type-advantage, but Tierno seem to be able to seal the deal right now and knock the Grass-type Pokemon out. Forcing himself to swallow his saliva, Calem is glad that he has yet to be noticed by Tierno, as he certainly does not need his rear end handed to him by another member of those retarded quartet. However in a demonstration of how easily the tide of a battle can shift, the previously dominated Pansage recovered faster than Corphish and Tierno have anticipated, Pansage took advantage of their temporary paralysis and fired off a Seed Bomb. The super effective technique blasted Corphish into the air, and then Pansage simply let gravity took over as gravity forcefully pulled Corphish downed back on the unforgiving Earth, the impact left an imprint on the ground that bore semblance to Corphish's physique. Tierno could only look on in horror upon seeing his trusted partner's health frittered away by the Pansage. Seeing Corphish's current immobile state, Pansage took the time and retreated into the Santalune Forest, not before blowing a raspberry at the defeated duo. Calem laughed at his own foolishness, as for a second he honestly believed that Tierno is a skilled trainer that is capable of overcoming all odds, but in the end it turns out the overweight future-less dancer is still the overweight future-less dancer. With those thoughts in mind, Calem decided to make his presence known as he now have some really disparaging things to say to Tierno.

"Mocking his lack of will to acknowledge and adjust to his opponent's type advantage would be a good start!" Calem decided. Then of course, after that Calem would revert back to the "fat joke" formula of bullying. Calem knows Tierno's is often unable to suppress his tears, meaning the kid would mostly tell everyone of his travails, and as a byproduct Calem's reputation as the "cool kid" would spread even further.

"Serena will fall in love with me in no time at all!" Calem mused to himself before placing a hand on Tierno's shoulder, like how he did during their first encounter.

Upon realizing Calem's the one that touched him, Tierno aggressively swipe Calem's hand off of his shoulder, and proceeds to leave after returning his Corphish to the Pokeball.

"Where do you think you are going?" Calem called out.

"Away from you."

"Don't tell me you are still butthurt over the joke I made in Aquacorde Town?"

"Look, I don't know what prompt you to talk to me again. But if anyone is butthurt in here, it would be you. After all you did get your rear end handed to you by Trevor. Just in case you came here seeking vengeance, I will have you know that I have nothing to do with what prompted Trevor to challenge you, you inspired him yourself when you knocked over the Pokeballs."

"Do I look like the type of person that hold grudges over such a minor thing. Even if your cry-baby tendencies did play a part in inspiring Trevor's challenge, I wouldn't have held a grudge against you or Trevor. After all, battling and training with Pokemon is what made Pokemon's companionship fun! Besides, I probably deserved what I got back in Aquacorde Town, as I was a bit out of line." Calem attempted to smooth-talk his way into gaining Trevor's trust again, but however as much as Calem attempt to feign sincerity this time, Trevor is not buying into the raven-haired boy's act.

"Cut the act Calem! I know what you are up to, and I have no interest in being bullied by you again! Now if you have no further business here, I shall be on my way!"

"Wait, I was just here for information. Please just answer three of my questions. Jut be the bigger man metaphorically for once in your life, and let bygones be bygones." Calem practically begged, at least he made it sound like he was begging. And by the looks of it, Calem once again managed to deceive the chubbier boy as the boy stopped in his tracks.

"Just three questions. If you exceed that amount of questions, I am not sure what I am going to do to you." Agreeing with the terms, Calem formulated and asked his first question.

"What happened to Serena, and the others?"

"We decided to travel as a unit." However before Calem could even demand an explanation of why they did not consider adding him as part of their traveling unit, Tierno opened his mouth again.

"We held a group vote and decide to exclude rude people such as you." At this Calem found his eyebrow twitch in annoyance as he formulated his comeback. In times like this, Calem knows whatever he have to say next needs to be as mean as possible. And suddenly, something in Calem's brain clicked as he found the perfect insult, now the challenge would be putting the insult in the format of a question.

"Let me guess. The group held another group vote, and decided that they are going to abandon you as well, since you will only serve as _dead-weight _to the group." Calem added an emphasis on the phrase dead-weight, to let Tierno know that he just made fun of the bigger boy's weight problem again.

"That's it this conversation is officially over." Tierno barked, holding back tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

"Awwww~~ being a crybaby again?" Calem mocked, pleased that he once again broke the overweight boy down.

"That's it! Calem, you just used your last question. Now scram before I tear you apart from the inside to the outside!"

"Oh~~! Getting physical aren't we? You should be glad that I am the one talking to you right now, after all everyone else would have sought legal actions the moment someone as hideous as you suggested to rape them." At this Tierno's face turn bright red in a mixture of anger and humiliation.

"Calem, I know you are just saying this because you are still butthurt over your defeat at Trevor's hand, and felt the need to take your frustration out on someone weak. The plan is almost flawless, except that I am not helpless. And I will tear you apart!" Tierno roared, before picking his luggage up once again and proceed to take the opportunity to leave the scene. Leaving the raven-haired boy dazed at Tierno's sudden outburst.

Tierno then sent Calem one final look before finally giving Calem a proper answer for the raven-haired kid's second question. "For your information, I wasn't ostracized from the group. I left the group so I can hunt for the abnormally strong Pansage that I encountered in Santalune Forest. Now if you will excuse me, I still got a Pansage to capture." As soon as those words left Tierno's mouth, the boy sped off to the direction the wild Pansage just ran off to.

"Hmph…I am not butthurt! And if anyone of us is butthurt over here, it will be you! You want to know why? Well, because I will catch that Pansage before you!" Calem called out, but his voice did not seem to reach its intended target, as Tierno is too far ahead.

"He sure can run pretty fast, despite being overweight." Calem noted to himself, before also heading towards the direction the wild Pansage just ran off to, as the novice trainer was dead-serious when he claimed that he is going to catch Pansage before Tierno.

* * *

Chasing the Pansage is a huge step backwards for Calem, and the raven-haire boy is well aware of that, but he needs to hold true to his vows in capturing the Pansage just to spite Tierno. Besides having a Grass-type Pokemon in his team might not be such a bad idea. Although Calem is determined to catch the wild Pansage, he is not completely naive about this situation as he knows finding a wild Pansage is a forest full of Pokemon can be a real hassle. Remembering that the Pikachu he have in his possession was once a member of a colony of Pikachus that reside here, Calem contemplated the idea of having a wide-spread search party to make the process of looking for that Pansage easier. Releasing his newly-caught Pikachu from his Pokeball, Calem pleaded for the Pikachu's assistance. Unwilling to defy his trainer, the Pikachu obliged and released a loud "Pika!" that resonates around the forest. Moments later, a multitude of "Pika!" could be heard from all direction in the forest, the species battle cry was followed up by their light footsteps. In no time at all, multiple Pikachu burst into the opening and welcomed Calem's Pikachu with embraces and kisses on the cheek. However Calem's Pikachu prevented further assaults of affections by revealing that it had a favor to ask of them, upon realizing they were called out for the sake of working, the Pikachus began to turn their back and attempt to make their way back to their original habitat. Calem was about to give up on asking the Pikachu's assistance, seeing as even his puppy-eyes did not seem to motivate them, however all of the Pikachu was brought to a halt by a booming voice. A voice…that Calem is quite familiar voice, a voice that contains absolute authority…the voice of the Pikachu colony's leader.

"Pika! Pika! Pika! Pika! Pika! Pika! Pika!" the veteran Pikachu barked, seemingly reminding the other Pikachu of how the raven-haired boy rescued them when they were captured by the duo clad in orange. A look of pure guilt surfaced on each and every single one of those Pikachu's faces, as they were suddenly ashamed of their laziness. The veteran Pikachu than proceed to give Calem a thumb up that Calemn gladly returned, all the while the raven-haired teen can't help but be in awe at the incredible leadership ability the veteran Pikachu possesses.

Upon explaining the objective of the search party, the group of Pikachu scattered across the forest, vowing to report any signs of the Pansage that Calem just described.

* * *

A green monkey-like Pokemon expertly swung through the woods via the usage of its Vine Whip; the Grass Monkey's hands are understandably placed over its stomach, as the Pansage still have not recovered from the damage inflicted upon it by the overweight boy's Corphish. As far as Pansage is concerned, he needs to draw out the distance between itself and the exit of Santalune Forest, because Pansage is fairly certain his pursuers are still hot on its trail.

"Pan! Pan!" the Grass Monkey motivated itself as it work through the nagging injuries on its body, and continued to navigate away from the Route 3 that its last encounter with Tierno took place. Pansage was brought to a screeching halt however as a yellow-rodent like Pokemon blocked its way, Pansage shot the area behind its back a glance and came face to face with a raven-haired trainer. Gritting his teeth in anger, Pansage attempt to get the preemptive strike in and unleashed his Vine Whip attack on the trainer-owned Pikachu. Two greens vines snaked towards Pikachu's direction as Pikachu studied the movement of the vinescarefully, readying to avoid it at his trainer's command.

The two vines intersected with each other, before ultimately interlocking with each other in an attempt to strike the Electric Mouse Pokemon. Taking advantage of the form Vine Whip have just manifested itself in, Calem proceed to give out his first set of command in this battle.

"Pikachu, jump and pin the vines down to the ground using your tail." The Pikachu nodded in understanding before leaping into the air moments before the interlocked vines struck the ground that once held the weight of Calem's Pikachu. Somersaulting forward, Pikachu forcefully slammed its lightning bolt shaped tail on the interlocked vines, preventing Pansage from retracting its most prized weapon and restricting the Grass Pokemon's mobility.

"Now use Volt Switch." With his vines still pressed against the forest ground by Pikachu's tail, Pansage was easily struck by the yellow orb of crackling electricity the Electric Mouse produced. Just moments after Pansage felt the blunt of Pikachu's Volt Switch, a flash of blinding light enveloped the battlefield, obscuring Pansage's vision. Unaware that Pikachu has transformed into a beam of light and swapped places with Fennekin, Pansage allowed itself to let its guard down as it anticipated a "not very effective" Electric attack, and the Grass Monkey Pokemon immediately regretted its decision.

"Flame Charge!"A fiery-cloaked Fennekin emerged within the blinding light, tackling Pansage and forcefully slamming the Grass Monkey against the bark of a forest tree. Pansage's head slammed hard into bark of the tree, causing the monkey to wince at the whiplash. Re-adjusting his attention to its assailant, Pansage found its opponent to have changed from a mouse-like creature to a Fennec Fox like creature. Although Pansage was not able to understand what just transpired, it knows that it can't afford to waste anymore time engaging the duo in combat. Swallowing its pride, the Pansage attempted to flee the scene. Anchoring his vines to tree branches, Pansage attempt to reel himself away from the battlefield. Calem however have other plans for the Grass Monkey, as the Fox Pokemon showered one of Pansage's vine in explosive embers. The maneuver immediately set the grass whip on fire and effectively severe it in half, the severed vine acted in a way similar to a dynamite fuse, directing the remnant of sparks towards Pansage's own body.

"Pannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" Pansage let out a scream of agony, as its balance in the air was disturbed without the support of both of its vines; this caused Pansage to slam full force into another one of the many trees in the Santalune Forest. The impact further aggravated the developing headache of Pansage, once again inducing a pained cry from the wild Pokemon. Before Pansage could attempt to use his remaining vine to continue his escapade, he found himself assaulted by a red and white capsule device flung by its raven-haired assailant. Upon striking the Grass-type Pokemon, the device flipped open and converted Pansage into a ball of energy before sucking the Grass-type Pokemon into the core of the device.

"Pansage!" A loud voice boomed from behind Calem, and Calem knew that it was the fat boy Tierno. Calem sent Tierno a arrogant look before pointing at the twitching Pokeball on the ground, the horror on Tierno's eyes immediately brought forth the sense of satisfaction in the raven-haired teens body. The device twitched once, still no signs of a possible breakout from Pansage. The device twitched a second time…. still no signs of a breakout. The device twitched a third time… and Tierno's seems to be passing out from the suspense and disappointment. Calem carefully studied Tierno's face, his grin grow bigger and wider with each passing second, however Tierno's face suddenly no longer sport the horrified look instead it was replaced by a look of pure surprise and relieve. Turning his head around just in time to see a barely conscious Pansage burst out of its confines, Calem attempted to conceal his disbelieve albeit he is doing a terrible job at it.

"Pannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" Pansage pucker up its lips and fired multiples of golden seeds that are equipped with a green aura. The seeds bombarded Calem and Tierno's side of the field, frightening the two trainers enough to allow Pansage to make his escapade.

"Wait up Pansage!" Tierno called after the Grass Monkey Pokemon, before noticing that Calem is not making any attempts to pursue the Grass Monkey anymore.

"Giving up already? You are more weak-willed than I thought." Calem however just returned Fennekin back into her Pokeball , gave Tierno a dismissive hand gesture and proceed to head toward Route 3 again.

"No, I am not weak-willed. I just realized that the Pansage is too weak to be a part of my group of elites, in fact it fits you perfectly, and you guys should be called the Weak and Weaker." Tierno growled in anger at Calem's insult, however the boy realized that he does not have time to waste in counterproductive arguments. Determined to catch that Pansage, Tierno ran after the fleeing Pansage.

* * *

The Grass Monkey continued to maneuver his way through Santalune Forest, he knows that he will need to find an area that is out of the human's reach, and the sooner he find it the better, since his eyesight are getting blurry and the urge to throw up grow stronger and stronger. Unable to handle both the severe headache and the growing urge to throw up in anymore, Pansage landed on the forest ground, before sticking his head into one of the shrubs of grass and proceed to empty out the contents of its stomach. Wiping the remaining bits of breakfast off of its cheek, Pansage readied himself to fire off his remaining vine and continue with his swinging action; however the sudden darkness that overtook the wild Pokemon prevented it from carrying out its original intention.

* * *

The scenery before Pansage zoomed in and out of focus as consciousness stopped eluding it. From what Pansage can gather at the moment, he is in the lap of a human being, and the trainer's face is rather fat.

"Wait… a human being?!" Pansage immediately leapt out of the human being's lap, wincing as he realized that he retained the severe headache it had before consciousness eluded him. The human looked oddly familiar, the overweighed frame, the Vanilluxe T-shirt and the stupid look of his face… Everything is coming back to the Grass Monkey Pokemon now, as the Grass Monkey Pokemon let out a growl of frustration upon realizing the trainer that have been chasing him since yesterday has returned again.

"Pan! Pan!" The Pansage puckered up its lips once again, readied to unleash the maneuver that allowed him to escape from the trainer earlier on in the day.

"No wait, wait, wait! Please wait a second. I came here for peace!" the massive boy blurted out, extending both of his arms out with his palm facing Pansage in an attempt to stop Pansage from bombarding him with bullet-like seeds. The wild Pansage doesn't seem to heed the young trainer's pleads and was about to carry out with the maneuver, until all the injuries it had sustained today finally caught up with it and the Grass Monkey Pokemon once again collapse onto the ground.

"Keep still; I haven't finished tending your injuries yet." Tierno revealed, placing a hand on Pansage's body, preventing the Grass-type Pokemon from overly-exerting his .6 meter frame and aggravating old injuries. The Grass Monkey's facial expression did not soften up a bit, as the Grass Monkey sent the young trainer as suspecting look.

"You are wondering why I am not battling you right now, aren't you."The Grass Pokemon nodded once, allowing the trainer to know that is exactly what he is thinking of.

"Well, I have realized that I have been a little bit selfish while I was chasing you." The Grass Pokemon nodded in agreement, an action that Tierno opt to ignore for the sake of peace.

"I have noticed that no matter how much damage was inflicted upon you, you will always break out of the Pokeball, even if doing that action would apply further stress on your body. " Pansage nodded in agreement, somewhat impressed by the Vanilluxe T-shirt donning boy's observational skills.

"Now, the question is why do you hate trainers that much? I know they can be slave driver, often act high-and-mighty and call Pokemon's they don't like weak. But you have to realize there are two types of trainer just like there are two types of Pokemons. I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything, but there are the good trainers such as me, and you can ask my Corphish to testify. Then there are the trainers like the raven-haired boy who assaulted you earlier on, that believes he is so high above everyone else." Pansage looked troubled for a second, as convincing as Tierno's speech sounds the Pansage was not sure whether or not it should start trusting humans again. Due to the inability to communicate in human language, Pansage turned and revealed the scars deeply imprinted on its back, in hope that the scar will justify its hatred for humans.

An audible gasp could be heard as Tierno examined the scars.

"Could those scars come from….." Pansage nodded, confirming Tierno's suspicion. Tierno reached inside his backpack and produced a roll of bandages and continue to tend to Pansage's medical needs, as a long silence overtook both the Pokemon and the human.

"Oh…I am sorry. The speech I made earlier was not made to convince you to join my team. It is your life and you make the choices. Now that I have finished patching you up, you could do whatever you want. At this rate, it probably would be best for you to remain a free Pokemon." Tierno finally spoke breaking the silence.

* * *

In Calem's mind, this moment is cliché, so cliché that both the Pokemon and trainer need to be carted to prison. He has absolutely no problem in trainers bonding with Pokemon, but bonding with Pokemon through the usage of cheesy speeches should be a crime that calls for capital punishment. What irked the raven-haired trainer even more was when the fat boy had the audacity to use him as an example for "bad trainers". The direction this "bonding moment" is going is way too predictable, the Pansage would of course be moved by Tierno's "sincerity" and agree to travel with Tierno, and Calem is definitely not allowing this to happen. He is going to defeat Tierno and prove that Tierno's incompetence as a trainer to Pansage ,and proof to Pansage that following Tierno will result in more near-death experiences.

Taking this opportunity to make his presence felt, Calem stepped out of the grass shrub that he has been hiding in.

"Don't be tricked by Tierno's flashy words, Pansage. Tierno should not to be trusted, leave now or he will eat you for breakfast!" Tierno's head jerked around to find Calem approaching him. Pansage however is at a lost for words, because just when it was about to decide whether or not to leave Tierno alone or joining his team, it saw a face he doesn't really want to see at the moment.

"The only things I eat for breakfast are craps like you!" Tierno barked.

"Did you just say you eat craps for breakfast? That would explain the source of your bad breathes." Calem retorted, quite proud at the clever remark he just made up.

"If you want a fight, I will happily oblige. Now, if you are a coward that I know you are, get out of this place immediately!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh~~ Big Tierno wants a fight! No thanks; I am not interested in getting physical with someone as undeserving of you. However if you are interested in a Pokemon battle, than I would happily oblige. So…what do you think?" Tierno narrowed his eyes at Calem's proposition, as he wondered when the raven-haired boy became so confident in his battling skills, surely there must be shenanigans involved.

"I accept."

"Good! The rule of the battle is 2-on-2, no time limit, and the victor is decided when one side's Pokemon is both unable to battle." Calem set the rules, confident that he would be able to dominate Tierno's Pokemon, as it is not unreasonable to believe that Tierno's Pokemon is just as physically out-of-shape like their trainer.

The way the Tierno's face paled doesn't seem like a good sign to Calem.

"What is the matter, Tierno?"

"I only have one Pokemon and that is my Corphish."

"Haha! Only your Corphish? Looks like even Professor Sycamore deemed you incompetent as a trainer, to the point he didn't even bother giving you a Starter Pokemon." Calem laughed, not noticing the Pansage that is now glaring daggers in his direction.

"Looks like I automatically win this fight by the means of forfeit."

"…"

"Pan! Sa!" Both trainers directed their eyes to the short-statured Grass Monkey.

"Pan! Pan! Pan! Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The Grass Pokemon yelled while cuddling up to Tierno's leg.

"Don't tell me you want to fight with me?" Pansage nodded, albeit with a moment of hesitance.

"That is illegal; you can't command a wild Pokemon in a Pokemon battle!" Calem complained, realizing that his constant belittling on Tierno in hopes of convincing Pansage of the overweight boy's incompetence has backfired.

To shut Calem up, Tierno rolled a Pokeball onto the ground, which Pansage pleasantly entered.

"Now, he is officially a member of my Pokemon party. Anymore complains, you coward?" Tierno spat.

"…No more complains."

* * *

Calem and Tierno agreed to battle on Route 3, in ordered to prevent destroying the habitat of the Pokemon that reside in the forest. Both trainers' hand contains the Pokeball of the Pokemon they are going to use to lead in the battle. A lone leaf floated downwards from the sky. The moment the leaf struck the ground, both trainers flung their Pokeball forward. Both Pokeball burst open, revealing a Corphish and a Pikachu. Grinning that he got the type advantage, Calem took the initiative and ordered his Pikachu to attack.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack now!" A white outline surrounds Pikachu's body, as Pikachu charged towards Corphish at an extreme speed, leaving a silver trail behind it. Tierno groaned as he realized that with the speed the Pikachu is moving right now there will not be any window of opportunity for him to switch Pokemon, meaning that he would have to fight Pikachu with Corphish.

"Tsk. Corphish jump up and evade the Quick Attack. And then followed it up with a Crabhammer." Corphish leapfrogged over the attacking Pikachu, and then upon shifting its body around to face Pikachu, the Ruffian Pokemon slammed into Pikachu's stomach with his pincers aglow. The blow landed on Pikachu's stomach, bending the Pikachu's back forward, catapulting the Electric Mouse backward towards Calem's direction and effectively knocked all the air out of the Pikachu's lung.

"Follow up with another Crabhammer." In a moment's delay, Corphish appeared in between Calem and Pikachu. Unable to stop his momentum in time, Pikachu fell victim to yet another Crabhammer. This blow bent Pikachu's back inward, lifted the rodent's feet off the ground, catapulted Pikachu towards Tierno's direction and once again knocked all the air out of Pikachu's lung.

"Finish it off by smashing Pikachu's head into the ground with a final Crabhammer." The Ruffian Pokemon nodded obediently, jumping on top of the still airborne Pikachu, with his pincers still aglow. This battle is going to well for Tierno, as his Corphish is currently dominating Pikachu with its power and agility, and he knows soon the Ruffian Pokemon will take the yellow rodent-like Pokemon out of the equation.

"Pikachu, twisted your body around, and parry with an Electro Ball." A yellow orb of electricity formed on the tip of Pikachu's thunderbolt-shaped tailed, the Electric Mouse turned its body a full 360 degree before slamming the orb of crackling electricity into Corphish's pincers. Electro Ball parried and eventually overwhelmed Corphish's Crabhammer, enveloping both Pokemon in an explosion of golden electricity. Moments later, both Pokemon skidded backward from the shockwave of the explosion, with Pikachu landing on his feet and Corphish falling on his back.

Tierno felt that his worst fear has come true, and despite his attempts to keep his thoughts collected, his thoughts still remained scattered.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack again!" A white outline surrounded Calem's Pikachu, as the Pikachu burst forward with immeasurable speed.

" Corphish, jump up and dodge it again." After Tierno shouted out the instructions, a smirked appeared on Calem's face, and the smirk served as a tell-tale sign that Tierno just made a wrong decision.

"Pikachu, ascend and strike Corphish with a Nuzzle." Corphish leapt onto the air just moments before Pikachu overtook his position in the ground, however Corphish wasn't able to react in time when Pikachu slammed his cheek onto his body and shocking him with static electricity.

"Cooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrr…." Corphish screeched in agony as Pikachu used his free limbs to grip onto Corphish's body, while maintaining the position needed to perform Nuzzle.

"Corphish, use Guillotine."

Calem's eyes widen at the mentioning of the technique. "Pikachu get out of there quick!"

With his pincers primed with power, Corphish pried Pikachu off of his body by the neck, readying to slam the Electric Mouse into the ground.

"Tsk. Pikachu use Thundershock!" Calem knows that Guillotine is a one-hit KO move and he can't afford to allow Corphish to come out of this exchange with his consciousness intact, meaning the raven-haired boy would have to do everything in its power to weaken the Ruffian Pokemon when gravity is still pulling them down to the ground.

_Everything is over when they touch the ground…_

Pikachu's cheek crackled with electricity, as the rodent-like Pokemon gathers energy to perform its Electric-type maneuver.

"Corphish use your free pincer and fire Bubblebeam to the sky."

"WHAT?" Calem exclaimed as never in his wildest dreams did he expect this battle to progress this way.

Corphish pointed his right pincer skyward, and multiple beams blasted into the air. The Bubblebeam propelled Corphish towards the ground; causing the two Pokemon hit the ground before Pikachu can even unleash his Electric-type technique.

An amorphous mass of dirt picked up as Pikachu's body hit the ground, obscuring both trainers' vision. Moments later, the dust clouds cleared, revealing a shattered ground that took the shape of a cobweb. Inside the ruined ground, there lays an unconscious Pikachu with an equally unconscious Corphish lying on top of it.

Calem breathed a sigh of relieve, he knows that Pikachu are a fragile creature, and mentally thanked his Pikachu for fighting hard until the end. Both trainers recalled their Pokemon, before reaching for the Pokeball of the second Pokemon they are going to use in the battle.

"Tsk. Come on out Pansage." Tierno flung Pansage's Pokeball forward. The Pokeball burst open revealing a monkey-like Pokemon that have what seem like a broccoli attached to its head.

"Come out Fennekin." Calem flung his Pokeball forward with a confident smile on his face, since he knows that his type-advantage is now guaranteed, knowing that Tierno's only Pokemon capable of battling is Pansage. A Pokemon that resembles a Fennec Fox burst out from Calem's Pokeball, puffing out hot air out of its ears in an attempt to intimidate.

"Fennekin, Flame Charge."

"Rock Tomb!"

Swirls of flames surround Fennekin's body, before converging with Fennekin and enveloping her in an orb of searing flames. Upon having her body completely enveloped in flames, Fennekin promptly launch itself at the Grass Monkey Pokemon. In response to Fennekin's Flame Charge, Pansage stomped the ground once, causing giant rocks to protrude from the ground. The moment Fennekin's Flame Charge made contact with the rocky barrier, the searing orb of flames surrounding Fennekin dissipates, causing Fennekin to slam headfirst into seismic protrusions.

"Fenne…." Fennekin staggered backwards, still dazed at the sudden impact on her head.

"Pansage use Acrobatic now!"Pansage jumped on top of the seismic protrusions to elevate itself, before diving down at a stunned Fennekin with extreme speed to the point that it left multiple after-images in its trail. The Flying-type maneuver struck, lifting the Fox Pokemon up into the air.

"Fenekin, attempt another Flame Charge." Ramming her feet down to the ground, Fennekin abruptly stop her momentum before rebounding with a second Flame Charge. This time the fiery tackle scored a direct hit, scorching the Grass Monkey Pokemon. The impact of Flame Charge catapulted Pansage backwards towards the seismic protrusion, causing the Grass Monkey Pokemon to hit its head on solid concrete.

"Pan…" A whimper was heard from Tierno's Pokemon as its head bounces off the solid concrete, further aggravating the monkey-like Pokemon's headache.

"Finish it off with another Flame Charge!" Fennekin sped towards Pansage, ramming into Pansage's stomach, and knocked Tierno's last Pokemon out.

"Pansage!" Tierno cried, rushing to his fallen Pokemon's aid. Calem however is not the type to let Tierno off the hook easily, as he feels the need to kick Tierno while he was down.

"Looks like I overestimated your strength Tierno. No wait, it is not that you are too weak, it is because I am too strong. Do me a favor and lead by example for your Pokemon, what I meant by that is you need to start exercising!" Calem broke down into hysteric laughter, before recalling his Fennekin and head towards Santalune City.

"Calem…I swear I will decimate you…" Tierno muttered to himself, as he picked up the limp body of his Pansage, whilst holding back tears that threaten to spill.


	4. Santalune City Gym! Vs Viola

A raven-haired boy's body was flung out of the blue sliding door of the Pokemon center, before it smacked hard into the unforgiving concrete floor of Santalune City. Massaging the growing ache on his back, Calem picked himself up from the ground once again while muttering about how there must be a conspiracy that cause him to get physically assaulted in every city he ventured Calem's opinion, it is either a conspiracy…. or everyone else in the world is just too damn sensitive. He swear he didn't even say anything offensive this time, he did not even brag about his Pokemon's strength and value. All he did was inquire about Trevor's group's location, and made a remark about how the center's lackluster facilities might have driven them away upon learning that the group has left for Lumiose of course this slit-eyed man decided to take it upon himself to physically assault Calem, in what Calem deemed to be a pathetic attempt to impress Nurse Joy.

As if to add insult to injury, the slit-eyed man decided to give Calem a lecture on respect, all the while drawing attention to the two conflicting males.

"As I expect from Pewter City's gym leader! Such a gentleman!" the female bystanders swooned over the slit-eyed male as Calem rolled his eyes over their decision to be public about their affection towards the aggressive male that just assaulted him.

"Way to go Brock! Teach that twerp a lesson about respect." A male bystander cheered. At this "Brock's" face flushed bright red as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, while soaking in the love the city's citizens have for him. Sneaking away from the crowd in the midst of confusion, Calem cursed his luck while reminding himself the reason why he came to this run-down city in the first place: to get the city's gym badge. Yup, he needs to get the gym badge and get out of this damned city, because after all this city's description on the town map is "Many beginning Trainers gather in this friendly city to start a Pokémon journey". And of course, Calem refuse to stay in a city where "beginning" trainers stay in, because he certainly doesn't want people to think he and the other trainers are on the same level when it comes to strength, because he is FAR too superior compared to those garbages they called "beginning trainers". Plus, as far as Calem is concerned this city is anything but friendly, as shown when that stupid slit-eyed teen physically assaulted him in front of the equally as hostile residents that reside in Santalune City.

* * *

Upon opening the door of the Santalune Gym, Calem came face to face with a sight that he didn't want to see. Multiple frames of Bug-type Pokemon were decorated on the white walls in a neat and orderly manner, and just the lone sight of that made Calem second guess his intention of challenging the gym. The raven-haired boy have known in advance that the Gym-leader of Santalune City specialized in Bug-type Pokemon, but he never expected her to be this obsessed about it. Reassuring himself that he would just roast whatever Viola decide to throw in his way with his Fennekin, Calem proceed to scale the rope that shall lead him to the basement that Viola is positioned in.

After reaching a distance that would ensure a safe landing, Calem proceed to release his grasp on the slender rope and hop to the ground, only to be greeted with another sight that he doesn't want to see. Spider webs...spider webs everywhere, and it seems like Calem would have no choice but to cross the enormous spider web. Knowing that he have to get across the spiderwebs, Calem reluctantly put his whole weight on one of the threads, since he is aware that even if the thread collapses under his weight, he can always jump back onto the stable concrete that he landed in just moments prior.

"However, someone like Tierno would be to heavy that the threads would give out before he can even react." Calem mused to himself, and began to crawl alongside the silky threads upon checking the stableness of the said threads. Calem turned his head backward several times to make sure the sticky threads doesn't stick to his expensive suit that took him years to purchase. However much to Calem's chagrin, the damage to Calem's suit is existent but not to the level Calem thought it was. Instead of having threads stuck to it, the suit was ripped… ripped in places that is just visible enough to bystanders to the point that it make him look like a bum that tries to pose as a member of the higher class. Believing that his suite must have ripped when Brock slammed him against the ground, Calem made a mental note to mail the repair bill to Brock, since he already knows Brock lived in "Pewter City." Although Calem have never heard of that city, he believes that it is just another run-down city that is so obscure that it is not even deemed worthy to be included in Kalo's town map. With that thought in mind, Calem continued to advance along the glossy threads, hoping to reach the Gym leader fast enough so he can obtain the gym badge and go sanitize his hand in a local bathroom.

* * *

Reaching the gym leader is harder than Calem has anticipated, as the raven-haired boy found himself returning to the same position on the web that he left just minutes ago. He knows that the purpose behind incorporating puzzles in a Pokemon gym was to sharpen a trainer's mental nimbleness, but this is just absurd. Calem hates interacting or seeing Bug-type Pokemon, but he absolutely despises being in constant contact with a thing that could very well be excreted by a giant spider. Just when Calem was about to call it a day and head back to the Pokemon center, the raven-haired child noticed something that caught his interest: the water dew that lays on top of those sleek strings. Although Calem can't see if there are dews of water in the hut the gym leader is located in, Calem knows that the water dew has to be here for a reason. There are possibility that these water dews are the byproduct of a Pokemon battle, but that wouldn't make any sense, as why would risk the chance of their Pokemon falling into the seemingly bottomless-pit below the silk threads when they can fight on solid ground. Solid ground… such as the hut that the gym leader is relaxing in right now. Then there is the possibility a Pokemon used a long-ranged water type technique such as Water Gun or Hydro Pump, causing drizzles of water to fall into the threads once the maneuver dissipates. But then the dew would seem much more scattered, however the dew on the threads seems much more organized, organized in a row-ish manner to be exact. By the process of elimination, only one of Calem's theory remains, although it is a bit unlikely. What Calem is currently thinking is that, maybe the water droplets serves as a guide towards the gym leader. Although it sounds like it is too good to be true, Calem decided to take a chance, after all he doesn't have anything else to lose since he knows that there is no way he would be able to catch up with Serena now.

* * *

With a clearer objective in mind, and no longer wandering aimlessly, Calem found himself in the same hut as the Santalune City's Gym leader in no time at all.

The gym leader whistled in approval of the raven-haired boy's progress, as just 5 hours ago the same teen that is standing in front of her was still wandering aimlessly in the gym's puzzle to the point that the gym leader honestly believed that the raven-haired boy will never get here.

"I am Santalune City's gym leader Viola. What is your name?" As much as Calem want to barked at Viola for setting up such a disgusting puzzle, Calem calmed himself as he knows that bad attitudes in front of a gym leader usually does not work in a challenger's favor.

"Vanilville Town's Calem. And may you spare some time out of your already hectic schedule to fulfil this humble challenger's wishes and engage me in a gym battle?" Calem performed a swift curtsy, remembering the lessons his mother gave him on manners when he still lived with them. Upon seeing the gym leader smile and nod in approval, Calem knows his introduction achieved his desired effect.

"Vaniville Town, eh? I remembered a group of trainers that originated from that exact place challenged me yesterday. Are they your friends?"

"Friends? Those people can't even be called my peers, as I am far too superior in comparison even though we originate from the same town. They are the people that put our town's name to shame, and they have the audacity to ostracize me from their little traveling group." Calem can't helped but unleash an air of arrogance as he scoffed at Viola's comments. Luckily Viola just gave Calem an uneasy smile and said nothing of the Calem's attitude.

"However, I bet they all lost in front of your skills." Calem attempted to redeem himself as a humble challenger.

"No, actually they all got a gym badge from me. Like I said they are quite prominent battlers. Especially that orange-haired teen, his unique battling strategies mesmerized me, and he is so cute and such a sweetheart! And you know what is the best part about him? He also have a camera, and that camera is so coooooooooooollllll!" Calem rolled his eyes upon seeing Viola swoon over Trevor while noticing the excessive amount of cameras that's set up within the hut. There are cameras of different variations, and by the looks of it Calem can safely deduce that Viola have an obsession with cameras that is just as severe as her obsession with Bug-type Pokemon.

"...And you know the girl named Serena? She is like so pretty, and she is like so mature. Oh, and it seems like she and Trevor have a thing for each other. UGH… they are both so cute, if I could I would marry them!" Calem continued to roll his eyes, whilst wondering how old Viola actually is, because if she is anything above 30, he might have to report her for pedophilia.

"Um… I don't mean to sound offensive or anything. But can we please get to the gym battle.. Again… I apologize if I offend you, it is not like the things you have to say is not interesting or anything, but I am really tight on time." Calem's patience is wearing thin, but he is not about to blow his cover and get on the gym leader's bad side, so the above sentence was what Calem came up with.

"Oh… I am sorry, that was pretty unprofessional of me." Viola snapped her fingers, a Pokemon battling arena appeared from underneath and replaced the spider webs that Calem just navigated through. And on the platform there was already a referee standing there, equipped in full uniform and a set of red and green flags.

Knowing that things is about to get serious, Calem marched towards one side of the battling platform while Viola settled on the opposite side. Calem believed that by knowing what type of Pokemon Viola is going to use gives him an edge in battle, and he is sure that his believe is not wrong. From what Calem heard in the Pokemon center, Viola have a Surskit and a Vivillon, and both of them he can easily dismantle using his Fire-type starter: Fennekin. Reaching for Fennekin's Pokeball, Calem gave Viola a focused stare, anticipating either Surskit or Vivillon to come out first. However the mischievous glint in Viola's eyes served as a tell-tale sign that something that is different from expectation is about to happen. Grabbing her selected Pokemon's Pokeball, Viola swung her arm around in a rapid manner before finally flinging the Pokeball into the air. The Pokemon rotated in the air several times before revealing a foreign looking Pokemon that Calem has not been anticipating.

The Pokemon is a light-blue Pokémon with two pairs of rhombus-shaped wings, and a head that is shaped like an elongated teardrop with a pink face and round, completed with black eyes with white pupils. But the feature that caught Calem's attention, would be the pattern on the Pokemon's antenna as the pattern on the antennae looks like a pair of angry eyes, and if Calem do have to say so himself... he is a bit intimidated.

Recovering from the shock at the revelation of a Pokemon he has not been expecting, Calem pulled out the Pokedex bestowed upon him by Professor Sycamore and scanned the foreign Pokemon for information.

"Masquerain. The Eyeball Pokemon. The evolved form of Surskit. Its antennae have eye patterns on them. Its four wings enable it to hover and fly in any direction-to and fro and sideways." A robotic voice emitted from within Calem's fancy contraption. Unable to understand why Viola seems to be so confident in sending out a Pokemon that just evolved from Bug/Water to Bug/Flying against him as Bug/ Flying have absolutely no resistance against a Fire-type Pokemon;Calem sent out his Fennekin for battle regardless.

"My Surskit evolved into Masquerain during my battle against Trevor. And… he is such a sweet heart…" Before Viola can continue to rave about Trevor's greatness, Calem decided to cut her off.

"Fennekin, Flame Charge!"

"Fennnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…" Fennekin sprinted across the battlefield, moving from left and right to confuse her opponent as a cloak of flames covered her body.

"Fenne! Fenne! Fenne! Fenne, Kin, Kin!" Fennekin took off towards Masquerain's direction, advancing towards the Bug/Flying-type Pokemon with unbelievable speed and leaving a trail of blaze behind her.

"Masquerain. Hydro Pump." Calem's eyes widen as panic overtook him. Masquerain put all four of its wings together, forming a blue orb of water that burst into a jet of high-pressured water. The jet of high-pressured water struck an advancing Fennekin dead on, slamming the Fox Pokemon into the ground.

"Fenne…" The Fox Pokemon picked herself of the ground and eyed her soaked furs and then sending Calem a glare that made the young trainer shift his body in unease. In an act that surprised both trainers, Fennekin begrudgingly made her way towards Calem's side of the field, incinerating Calem's face with an Ember before the raven-haired trainer could tell her that he never recalled her.

"Fenne!" Fennekin turned her face away from Calem in a outright rebellious manner as the raven-haired boy attempt to persuade the Fox Pokemon to continue the battle that it started. Seeing that his not making any progress in convincing the Fox Pokemon to further participate in the first round of the gym battle, Calem reached out for Fennekin's Pokeball and point the button of the Pokeball towards Fennekin. A beam of red light shot out from the button of the device, however the Fox Pokemon just side-stepped the incoming red beams, and proceed to evade any of Calem's other attempts to return her to the Pokeball. Stomping the ground in frustration, Calem proceed to grab Pikachu's Pokeball and opt to send his Pikachu in battle while trying his best to ignore his Fennekin's presence.

Flinging Pikachu's Pokeball into the air, the device did a couple of rotations before bursting open and revealed a yellow rodent-like Pokemon. The yellow Mouse Pokemon released a loose discharge of yellow electricity from the red pouches of his cheeks, letting his trainer know that he is ready to fight.

"Pikachu, Electro ball."

"Pika Pika! Pika! Pika! Pikachu, Pi!"An orb of crackling electricity formed on the tip of Pikachu's thunderbolt-shaped tail, before the Mouse Pokemon somersaulted forward, and send the devastating maneuver soaring through the air.

"Hydro Pump." Masquerain once again put all four of its wings together, producing another orb of blue water that also burst into a jet of high-pressured water.

Water meets electricity, as the two high-energy attacks clashed in the middle of the battlefield. At first it seems like the two attacks are evenly matched as both technique engaged in an energy struggle. However due to the nature of Hydro Pump, the user is able to constantly input energy as opposed to Pikachu's Electro Ball, and that fact allowed Masquerain to eventually overpower Pikachu's Electro Ball and send both Electro Ball and Hydro Pump crashing towards Pikachu, creating a massive explosion of crackling electricity.

"PIKACHU!" Calem yelled in concern as dust clouds obscure both trainers vision of the battlefield.

The dust clouds dispersed with each passing second, as Calem is now able to vaguely make out the position of his Pikachu. Seeing that his Pikachu is still standing, Calem breathed a sigh of relief. However his relief was immediately replaced with fear when his Pikachu lost its balance and toppled over.

"Pikachu, is unable to …" the referee began but was soon stopped upon witnessing Calem's Pikachu forcefully pulling himself off the ground.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu gave Calem a thumbs up -upon straightening his body- to signify that he can still battle. Still, Pikachu's labored breathing and inability to maintain its balance on solid ground did not go unnoticed by the raven-haired trainer. Calem sent the Fennekin that loafing around him a glare, to which the Fennekin glared back. Taking this as a sign that his Fennekin is still unwilling to battle, -and after wrestling with his conscience-, Calem decided to keep Pikachu in the battle.

"From what I can gather, Hydro Pump should be near impossible to overpower… at least not now. However that doesn't mean I can't use my Pokemon's speed to overwhelm Viola's Masquerain. … I will finish this quick." Calem concluded, as he finished formulating his strategy.

"Masquerain, Hydro Pump." All four of Masquerain's wings pointed upward as a blue orb of water formed in between them, Masquerain then thrusted its wings forward and sprayed a jet of high-pressured of water towards Calem's Pikachu.

"Pikachu, Agility." Pikachu's outline briefly turned white, as he disappeared and reappeared several inches on the right side, as the jet of high-pressured water exploded harmlessly in the ground the rodent-like Pokemon previously occupied.

"Masquerain, stop the Pikachu's advance at once with another Hydro Pump!" Several other bursts of destructive water pillars were fired towards Calem's Pikachu- who was slowly covering the distance between himself and Viola's Masquerain- but none of them hit their target as Calem's Pikachu disappeared and reappeared from harm's way each and every single time and allow the water to explode harmlessly onto the seismic battle field.

Viola gritted her teeth in frustration at Hydro Pump's inability to struck its mark, and not to mention the distance between Pikachu and Masquerain is decreasing by each passing seconds.

"Getting struck by an Electric Ball at such a close distance would definitely not be good. But... recklessly attacking with Hydro Pump would not do be any good either..." Viola sent a wary glance towards her Masquerain- who was also going through a session of labored breathing- then her eyes darted towards the battle field to meet with Pikachu's advancing figures and ... the puddles of water created by Masquerain's missed Hydro Pump... then a jolt flashed through the gym leader's mind as a new idea developed.

"Masquerain, use Hydro Pump on the battle ground!" Initially skeptical of the success of its trainer's command, the Eyeball Pokemon forced itself into trusting Viola and sprayed a column of bone-breaking water against ground.

"Now maintain the input of water!" Masquerain nodded in obedience, as Hydro Pump sent a miniature wave across the battlefield, covering the entire battle field in liquids. Not quite catching the writings on the wall, Calem went forth with his original strategy and ordered his Pikachu to continue to advance towards Masquerain. However that command ultimately proved to be the raven-haired trainer's undoing as his Pikachu slipped over the sudden adhesiveness of the battlefield- landing belly first as his body involuntarily turned into a gyroscope-and spun all the way to the left corner of Calem's of the battlefield.

"...!"

"Masquerain, Aqua Jet. Now!"

The Eyeball Pokemon thrusted its body forward as a cloak of liquids surrounds its body and trailed behind its body, giving it a similar appearance to a comet and its tail.

"Pika?!" Calem's bewildered Pokemon cried out, still attempting to recover from the shock induced by his sudden slippage. Paralyzed by the speed of the incoming Aqua Jet, Pikachu maintained stationary and completely blocking out Calem's pleas for it to move out of the way.

An audible thud could be heard, as the Aqua Jet made contact with Calem's Pikachu's torso, forcefully inducing Calem's Pikachu into another session of spinning.

"Finish it off with one final Aqua Jet!" Masquerain took into the air and hovered on the air above Calem's still-spinning Pikachu. Taking in a deep breath, Masquerain dove down onto Calem's Pikachu, with the liquids from Aqua Jet gradually surrounding its body.

An audible thud could be heard, as Masquerain plummeted head first onto Calem's Pikachu and causing, producing a massive splash of water-leaving a cloud of tiny water droplets in the aftermath.

Neither trainer said a word as they stared at the dispersing water cloud intensely- eager to know the outcome of the previous exchange.

"Masq!" Masquerain roared as its .8 meter frame flew out of the water cloud, spreading out its wings and antennae to demonstrate the abundance of energy still in its reserves. Moments later, Calem's Pikachu also made his appearance shown, as the rodent-like Pokemon stumbled out of the water cloud- obviously still recovering from being forced to spin around, and the devastating impact on the top of his head- and landed flat on his butt upon not being able to maintain his balance anymore.

"Hmph. Your Pikachu is sure a tough one, I was expecting that Aqua Jet to knock it out… but as you can see, that isn't the case right here. But no worries, he wouldn't be surviving the next one. Masquerain, Aqua Jet now." Masquerain swerved around, -still retaining the liquids that has enveloped it from the last time it used Aqua Jet- before strafing towards an exhausted Pikachu with astonishing speed.

Beads of sweat free-falled from Calem's forehead and onto one of his outstretched hand, the sudden moisture snapped Calem out of his dazed state as the raven-haired boy realized he needs to give out a command. Keeping his eyes on the incoming Aqua Jet while searching for an appropriate counter proved to be too much for Calem to handle, as the raven-haired boy's thought remained scattered and blank… until his gaze fell upon the same thing that caused his current predicament: the waters on the ground.

"Pikachu, tip your tail on the ground and use Electro Ball." Mustering all the strength he had left, the Pikachu pulled back on his feet before dipping his own tail onto the bodies of liquids that have loitered the battlefield. Much to Calem's delight, the maneuver have the exact effect he was fishing for; the baseball sized yellow orb of electricity that was manufactured under normal circumstance grew to enormous proportions due to the conductive property of water, and released a cringe-worthy noise that's reminiscence to the chirping of one thousand birds.

Leaping into the air-despise the obvious weight added to it by the enormous Electro Ball- Pikachu whipped its tail around and intercepted Masquerain in mid-air. The Electro Ball detonated violently upon being slammed onto Masquerain's forehead, inducing a massive explosion of thick smokes that once again obscured both Pokemon from view. However, the suspense was short-lived as both Pokemon flew out of the smoke cloud in opposite directions and plunged down to the battle field, sending broken pieces of seismic ground into the air from the force of impact. Both Pokemon now laid in the midst of two craters that's located in their respective locations, with wisps of smoke rising from their prone bodies.

Just as the referee was about to declare the verdict that both Pokemon is unable to battle… Calem's Pikachu began to stir and eventually managed to get back on both of his feet, albeit with much difficulty and have to place one of his hands on the ground to provide support in order to prevent himself from falling down.

"Masquerain is unable to battle. Pikachu wins. Gym leader Viola please take out your next Pokemon." the referee judged, raising up the flag that's closest to Calem to signify the boy's victory.

Viola recovered from her momentary shock, and reached for the last Pokeball on her Pokeball holster.

"Calem, you have done well. But keep in mind, the next one will not be so easily defeated." Viola warned, once again sporting the smirk that she had during the first round of the gym battle.

Upon flinging her Pokeball in the air, the Pokeball burst open and released a stream of amorphous blue light that eventually morphed the shape of a butterfly.

The butterfly-like Pokemon have a body with an elliptical shape divided into three segments, and elliptical legs that are black on the lower half and grayish on the upper half, all of this is completed with the two skinny antenna sticking from its gray head- directly above its dark circular struck Calem as oddity was that Vivillon has two black, circular hands, but does not have any sign of arms, meaning that the raven-haired boy wouldn't have to worry about the bug-type Pokemon's ability to grab onto his Pokemon.

Although Calem is ninety-nine percent sure of this Pokemon's identity- as he remember seeing those Pokemon in the coloring books he used to have- the raven haired boy scanned the airborne Pokemon with his Pokedex nonetheless:

"Vivillon. Scale evolution of Spewpa. The patterns on this Pokémon's wings depend on the climate and topography of its habitat. It scatters colorful scales." Noticing that the Vivillon's wing pattern is Meadow patterned, and knowing that Vivillon is a Bug/Flying type Pokemon, Calem allowed himself to relax as he knows that he can easily handle this with his Pikachu alone.

The butterfly-like Pokemon descend from the sky and strafes past Pikachu and Calem, before making a full circle around the arena and return to Viola's side.

"Fenne! Fenne!" A certain creature by his side gained Calem's attention. When Calem turned around he came face to face with a hyperactive and eager Fennekin, who was pointing at herself with one of her forepaws as if offering herself for battling.

"Fennekin, you want to go?"

"Fenne!" Fennekin nodded, before running towards the battling field as Calem recalled his Pikachu.

Calem himself can't help but laugh at his Fennekin's sudden eagerness to battle, as just a few seconds ago the Fox Pokemon was just cowering behind him. Well, if anything this helped Calem to have a better understanding of Fennekin's personality, as now he knows that Fennekin doesn't mind battling but will only fight against Pokemon that she thinks she can win against.

Now that Fennekin seems to be willing to battle again, Calem believed he have this match in the bag.

"Fennekin, Flame Charge."

The smirk on Viola's face grow larger by each passing second, "Vivillon, use Powder." Vivillon flapped its wings rapidly, blowing a breeze of powders towards Fennekin's direction and subsequently covered Fennekin's body with the said powder. Flames swirled around Fennekin's body, and just as when the flames are about to converge as one and envelope Fennekin in an orb of flames… a massive explosion occurred that send Fennekin skidding backwards.

"Fenne?" Fennekin exclaimed, just as confused as Calem is about the unexpected occurrence.

"Tsk. Fennekin use Ember." Calem ordered, still not catching the writing on the wall.

An orb of flames gathered in Fennekin's gaping mouth…

"Vivillon, use Powder again!" The same powders was released through the flapping of Vivillon's wings, and once again covered Fennekin's body. Fennekin's body was enveloped in yet another massive explosion as the Fox Pokemon screamed in agony.

"Vivillon, use Hurricane." Both of Vivillon's wing glow white, as it beat its wings towards Fennekin's location, causing a tornado to envelope the Fox Pokemon and hoist the Fox Pokemon into the air.

"Fenne! Fenne! Fennekin?!" Fennekin yelled, horrified by the height she just ascend to. The Fox Pokemon's panic was stopped quickly however, as her head slammed onto the concrete ceiling and gravity proceed to throw her down onto the concrete floor.

"Fenne…" Fennekin whimpered as the referee deemed her no longer able to engage in battling.

Recalling his Pikachu back to the Pokeball, Calem pondered his next move. So far, Vivillon has displayed a move that Calem wasn't to familiar with: Powder. What Powder does is still a mystery for the young boy. As it seems like every time his Fennekin attempted to attack, the powder on the Fox Pokemon would explode. But what Calem is not sure of is to what extent do Powder restrict a Pokemon's ability to attack, as thoughts like "Does it only explode when a certain type of move is used?" and " Does it explode whenever a Pokemon attempts to attack, no matter the type of move the Pokemon used?" flooded Calem's mind.

Knowing that just standing there and think would not solve anything, Calem sent out his Pikachu and ordered it to standby for battle.

"Hurricane also imposes a huge problem, due to how powerful the attack is. But… everything should be fine if I use Pikachu's remarkable speed again." Calem mentally reassured himself, as he ordered his Pikachu to use Quick Attack. Pikachu sprinted towards Vivillon with remarkable speed, before using the muscles in his hind legs to jump up in the air and readying himself to headbutt Vivillon in the stomach.

"Vivillon, Hurricane." Vivillon's wings glow white as it rapidly beats its wing in the air, sending a stream of crescent-shaped energy blades that intercepted Pikachu in midair and exploded upon contact.

"Pika!" Pikachu screeched as he plummeted down to the battlefield.

"Pikachu, if close-ranged combat doesn't work then use Electro Ball." Calem's Pikachu did a kip-up and then began to condense an orb of crackling electricity that hovered on the tips of his tail. Somersaulting forward, Pikachu flung the yellow-orb of electricity in Vivillon's direction.

"Hurricane!" Vivillon once again beat its wings in the air, creating crescent-shaped energy blades that intercepted and nullified Pikachu's Electro Ball halfway in the air.

"Continue to assault Pikachu using Hurricane!" Crescent-shaped energy blades once again soared towards Pikachu-ripping the air asunder-, readying to slice its unlucky victim to pieces.

"Pikachu, Agility." Pikachu disappeared and reappeared on the right side of the battlefield, as the maneuver-having lost its target, slammed into the battle ground and set off miniature explosions.

"Electro Ball." Pikachu disappeared for the final time, before reappearing in the space above Vivillon and subsequently slammed the yellow orb of electricity he had on the top of his tail onto the Scale Pokemon.

Now it is Vivillon's turn to screech in pain, as the yellow orb of electricity knocked it out of the air and pushed it towards the Earth.

A loud "Viiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" could be heard as Vivillon slammed against the Earth with Pikachu's Electro Ball still pressed up against its body. The contact resulted in an blinding golden explosion, as both trainers sheltered their eyes against the intense lights.

"PikaPi!" Pikachu cheered as he also gained footing on solid ground. Although Calem is still unsure of Powder's effect, he is 99% certain that Powder will not have any effect if used on his Pikachu. As if it could, Calem believed Viola would have already used the same combo she used to take out his Fennekin.

"Viiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii….." Vivillon feebly flew back into the air again, the effect of Electro Ball is evident. Calem frowned at the endurance of Vivillon, as even though he expected gym leader's Pokemon to be well conditioned physically, he never expect them to be able to continue to fight after taking an Electro Ball at a point-blank range.

"...And my Pikachu is still tired from its previous battle with Masquerain too." Calem solemnly noted, as he observed his Pikachu's exhausted state.

"PikaPi!" Pikachu turned around and gave Calem another thumbs up, whilst still huffing and panting rapidly.

"Vivillon, Acrobatics!" Vivillon descend from the sky with blinding speed, leaving several afterimages in its trail, before striking Calem's Pikachu dead on in the face, causing the Mouse Pokemon to skid to the left. Vivillon then turned itself around, readying to strike Calem's Pikachu with yet another Acrobatic. However this time both Calem and Pikachu are prepared.

"Pikachu, dodge it and hold on to Vivillon's body." Calem's Pikachu pressed its body against the ground, ducking out of harms way, then proceed to jump up and wrap its arm around the Scale Pokemon's body when the Scale Pokemon's body brush past him.

"Vivi?!" Vivillon exclaimed, shocked by the presence of an uninvited passenger.

"Vi! Vi! Vi~~~~~!" Vivillon cried as it struggled to adjust its balance in the air with the additional weight on its body.

"Pikachu. Nuzzle!" Sparks of electricity emitted from Pikachu's cheek pouches, as Pikachu slammed his cheeks on the Scale Pokemon's body.

"VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Vivillon released a sharp piercing cry, expressing the extreme pain in its body as electricity surged through its body, effectively paralyzing the Pokemon.

Knowing that his victory is secured, Calem gave Pikachu his final order.

"Pikachu, finish it off with Electro Ball." Nodding slightly, Pikachu used Vivillon's body as a springboard and propelled himself towards the ground. Upon landing on the ground, Pikachu charged up his Electro Ball before sprinting towards a wobbly Vivillon.

"Vivillon, get out of there now!" Viola commanded, her tones desperate and her face no longer sporting a smirk.

Vivillon attempt to follow through with its trainer's order, and flapped its wings in the air a couple of times, desperate to create distance between itself and the advancing Pikachu. Despite Vivillon's efforts, the Scale Pokemon didn't get far, as yellow static electricities appeared around its body, signifying its paralysis. Before Viola can give off another command, Pikachu already slammed his electrical sphere onto Vivillon's body, effectively pushing Vivillon away and slamming the Scale Pokemon's body against the surrounding walls.

"Vi~~~" Vivillon let out a final groan, as it drift away into the world of unconsciousness and its real-life body slid off the cratered wall.

"Vivillon is unable to battle, Pikachu wins. And the winner of this Gym Battle is: Calem from Vaniville Town." The referee announced, raising the flag closest to Calem for the second time in the gym battle.

Calem's Pikachu jumped up and down in joy, before his knees gave out, causing the Pikachu to collapse to the ground.

* * *

"Congratulations, Calem. You have earned yourself the Bug Badge." Viola handed Calem the beetle-shaped badge as the badge glimmered under the wavering sunlight. Accepting gym badge with grace, Calem muttered a quick "Thank You." before turning his body around, and prepared to leave.

"I am looking forward to this generation of trainers." Viola stated out of the blue.

"Eh. How so?" Calem questioned

"Well, this generation of trainers are all some skilled battlers, with three of them defeating me yesterday…" Viola trailed off.

"Oh? Or maybe you are just fuckin' retarded." Calem spat,as the boy felt that he no longer have to be respectful towards the young gym leader because he already accomplished what he came here to accomplish. Leaving an astounded and enraged Viola behind, Calem continued to make his way to the Pokemon center, as the setting of the sun marked the end of yet another day.

* * *

A/N: So I was wondering about whether the pacing of the story is too fast or too slow. And if I should cut back on the descriptions or be more detailed. Feel free to leave your thoughts, and point out mistakes. Thanks.

EDITED: 1/11/13


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